Years ago, my sister and I went to Philly to visit some family and friends. We had a great time, and although I don’t remember much of what happened on that trip, one moment has always stuck out in my mind. We were at our cousin’s house, sitting in the…

I feel like most of my life I have always been an open book. To a fault, really. I never shied away from telling people the things I’ve been through or was going through. That’s one of the most significant differences between myself and my sister. While my sister has…

We have a spare room in our house that we designated as an office room when we first moved in. And although we set it up in such a way, over the 13(!) …

The last two weeks have been something, y’all. After a torrential downpour a couple of weeks ago and stupidly driving through high flood waters, my twenty-year-old hand-me-down car started having engine problems. I scheduled an appointment to take it to the mechanic, and the morning I was going to take…

“Mone, [a Malayalam term of endearment a parent or adult would call their child or someone younger than them], I just wanted to tell you that I love you.” That was the text I got from my dad on December 14, 2012. I was teaching 2nd grade, and I had…

Today is my 39th birthday. I still find myself in disbelief that I am 39. Some days I feel like I am still 17, or 25 at best. And not in that “I feel young!” kind of way. It’s like I am emotionally and mentally stunted at 17 or 25. …

I have a problem with trying to fight too many battles at once. I want to solve all my problems at the same time. I’m not sure what makes me think I am capable of doing this or that it is even feasible, but here I am. I am pursuing…

For almost 20 years now, I have been overweight. I hate referring to myself as the “f” word because it feels derogatory. People — both strangers and those I knew alike — called me the “f” word so quickly and flippantly that it has left some deep scars in me. …

I’ve been thinking about death a lot lately. I know that sounds incredibly morbid, but last weekend I finished reading An Untethered Soul by Michael Alan Singer, and one of the last chapters of the book was about death. My sister mentioned that death is one of the great equalizers…