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Bursting bubbles (in a good way)
I'd never heard of H Mart when I met Ramón in 2011, but it soon became an integral part of our relationship. H Mart is a Korean grocery...
Sep 8, 20232 min read
Take that, Labor Day
I spent many Labor Days in the hospital in my early 20s. As the seasons began to change, my lungs would get angry, leading to a cystic...
Sep 3, 20232 min read
I kissed an electric toothbrush last night
Last night I kissed an electric toothbrush as I told it goodbye. Weird, I know. Ramón got the toothbrush a few days before he was...
Aug 23, 20232 min read
Not boarding
“I didn’t leave for the airport before I left for the airport.” Yes, that sentence left my mouth earlier this week. I was on the phone...
Aug 18, 20232 min read
Say NO to the second arrow
I was recently leaving the library like the nerd I am. I always pull out of the parking lot slowly because the visibility isn’t great —...
Aug 9, 20232 min read
Guess who's lucky?
Yesterday I started listening to a book called Conscious Luck by Gay Hendricks and Carol Kline. When I read its subtitle, "Eight Secrets...
Aug 2, 20232 min read
Livin' it up at the Death Café
When I imagine a café, I picture an atmosphere teeming with energy — pleasant smells, bits of conversation and laughter, an overall sense...
Jul 27, 20232 min read
Hopes and dreams
"Got any hopes and dreams for today?" Ramón often asked me this on days we had together with no real obligations. I'd name an errand or a...
Jul 20, 20231 min read
Leaving Lackville
I’d typically try to think of a clever way to start a post like this, but I’ll get right to it: I’m fed up with myself. Over the past...
Jul 15, 20233 min read
ExtravaGranza
As we prepared to eat at a family gathering one afternoon, the power went out. “Let’s all bow our heads,” one of my uncles started. “It’s...
Jul 7, 20232 min read
Oh my cornhole
I sustained an injury at the gym in 2009. I wasn’t doing anything crazy — just changing into workout attire. As I lowered my arm from...
Jun 26, 20232 min read
Field of dreams
Ramón and I took a two-week RV trip in 2018. We'd talked about doing it since we got married, so it was our belated honeymoon in a sense....
Jun 9, 20233 min read
For the birds
Two brown thrashers built a nest in the camelia outside the sunroom window. For the past few weeks, as I sat at my desk, I watched them...
May 16, 20231 min read
44
Ramón’s 37th birthday fell on a Saturday, so we got to spend the entire day together. I told him we could do whatever he wanted. His...
May 7, 20232 min read
Woe to the child (birthday edition)
You know that ol’ medieval European saying, "Woe to the child who tastes salty from a kiss on the brow, for he is cursed and soon will...
May 3, 20234 min read
37th Heaven
I turn 37 on April 26. On the surface, 37 doesn’t sound like a particularly significant age. It’s approaching “I’m almost 40” territory...
Apr 14, 20233 min read
My grief shoes
Flat feet and hospital floors don’t mesh. When I moved into the hospital after Ramón’s cardiac arrest in spring of 2020, my flat feet...
Apr 7, 20232 min read
Is that my phone in your pocket?
On what we didn’t know would be our last wedding anniversary, my late husband, Ramón, and I went out to dinner before heading to a comedy...
Apr 2, 20233 min read
Did Ashton Kutcher Get Punk'd?
"I wish I could give Ashton Kutcher an update," I sometimes think. I wanted him to know when I started performing improv. And when I got...
Mar 24, 20236 min read
Elevate
"Which do you prefer: the beach or the mountains?" "Oh, I'm definitely a beach person," I answered with aplomb, despite having never been...
Mar 19, 20231 min read
Gallery
My name is Drew Dotson, and my life has been anything but perfect, yet it's still perfectly beautiful. After growing up with a genetic disease, cystic fibrosis, I was blessed to meet an amazing man who loved me without bounds. Then he died.
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