Former Career Fire and EMS Lieutenant-Specialist, Writer, and Master Photographer.

Tag: Intersex


  • What If the Moon Is the Only One Who Ever Really Understood Me?

    There are nights when I step outside into the silvered darkness of my Vermont farm, and the only thing I feel truly seen by is the moon. The world is quiet here—just the chorus of crickets and the distant hoot of an owl—but above me the moon hangs like an old friend. Its pale light…

  • Most People Fall In Love Like Rain

    “Most people fall in love like rain; I fall like wreckage.”—Emily Slatin Most people fall in love like rain—soft, steady, the kind that gently soaks in over time. They ease into it, step by step, trusting that each drop will collect into something nourishing. I never learned that kind of love. I don’t fall like…

  • Concerning My Parents…

    Lately, my mother has been calling me to talk about death. Not in the abstract or philosophical sense—she isn’t suddenly overcome with introspection. No, for her, dying is a task list, a ledger of unfinished business that she’s decided I need to complete on her behalf. The way she tells it, I’m some unfinished project…

  • On Friendship…

    On Friendship…

    This past weekend, I drove back to the place where my story began. The road to my mother’s house is the same as it’s always been. That drive always stirs something in me. A reminder of who I was before the world turned hard and unforgiving. I didn’t just go to see my mom. I…

  • Crows, Queerness, And The Rain In My Head

    Out of nowhere, my former niece—who, for all intents and purposes, has become my unofficially adopted daughter—reached out and asked if I could pick her up. The timing was uncanny. She called while I was out with Amelia, and the moment I learned she needed a ride as soon as possible, I wasted no time.…

  • A Reflection On Love, Loss, And What Remains

    I drove like hell through the night, the highway stretching endlessly before me, my headlights cutting through the darkness like a blade. The only sound was the hum of the tires on the asphalt and the music playing on my cell phone. I didn’t stop, didn’t slow down. I just kept driving, pushing forward even…

  • Nearly 4 AM

    Nearly 4 AM

    It’s nearly 4 AM, and the house is unbearably quiet. I’m here alone, surrounded by the same walls that stood witness to a childhood I’ve tried so hard to forget. My father bought this house, but it was never a home—it was his domain, his kingdom of control. He’s been gone for many years now,…

  • How I Am, And How I’ve Always Been

    Today, I had a moment of complete clarity—one of those rare instances where everything just falls into place, and I realize how deeply I understand myself. It’s something I’ve felt my entire life, but I’ve never been able to articulate it quite like this until now. I’m female. Not in some distant, abstract way that…