I drove north to Austin, MN on the second day of 2011. By the time I drove through the middle of Iowa, the ground was totally white. I wouldn’t see green grass or experience temperatures above 20 degrees for nearly 2 months. I stopped twice to sob uncontrollably and otherwise cried tears of joy, sadness, […]
When I woke up the morning of December 22, 2010, the world came closing in on me. I was leaving Springfield, my home for the past 11 years, all my friends and family, and moving 500 miles north to a place where I didn’t know anyone or anything…alone. I thought I had to be insane […]
When I was in second or third grade when a copy of Cream of Creature From the School Cafeteria by Mike Thaler made its way onto my bookshelf. I am not sure where it came from. It wasn’t from a Scholastic book order and I didn’t get it from a bookstore. Nonetheless, it was one […]
In the last month of 2009, I was newly divorced, highly dissatisfied in my job as an environmental scientist, and trying to figure out my next steps in life. Fortunately, I had landed in a wonderful little 2-bed, 1-bath bungalow on the north side of Springfield, Missouri. There, I worked to heal from the end […]
I am a podcast addict. History, current events, personal growth, science – I listen to more podcasts than is probably healthy for a person. Some of my favorite podcasts involve people sharing stories about their lives. The types of deep, open conversations that would make most people uncomfortable. That’s my jam. The podcast I highlight […]
Montgomery’s Truck Stop (1587 North Glenstone Avenue) sat at the northwest corner of Division Street and Glenstone Avenue in Springfield, Missouri. A poorly maintained asphalt parking lot surrounded the light-colored brick building. Some friends and I visited this dingy hole-in-the-wall weekly for a while in college and spent hours “doing homework” and solving the problems […]