1. I’ve been blogging since early 2008, when my son was two and a half and I was a SAHM adjusting to an unfamiliar city.
2. We moved from Washington, DC to Berkeley, CA in April 2007 and I not only needed a creative outlet (after years of wanting to write but not actually writing anything) but I also needed some sort of creative social circle, no matter how remote. I was struggling with some traumatic childhood memories and had one story in particular that I felt a strong need to write about at the time, to write about and make public. So the drudgery and isolation of being a SAHM, along with these stories that were haunting me, propelled me into blogging/storytelling.
3. These days, I am in a graduate Marriage and Family Therapy program at a university in San Francisco. I am just finishing up my fourth semester as well as my first internship in a K-8 elementary school. Still have two more years to go in the program. I’m taking it very slowly.
4. If I had a million dollars, I would first buy my mother a place to live nearby. Maryland is too far away! There would be a few debts to pay off, maybe a nice trip or two to Europe (and elsewhere) for the family, and then I would identify some animal welfare charities to support.
5. A secret . . . not many people know that I once had a SECRET security clearance. A few more know that I have a license, but don’t drive.
Read Jennifer’s stories at Writing to Survive.
Your schooling and your security clearance sound intriguing!
I met Jennifer through blogging; we’ve been friends for years now and I am always in awe of her writing skills – her writing is lush, powerful, incandescent – Jen shines in every way.
Jennifer is one in a million! And if you, like me, are fortunate enough to stumble into her in the blogosphere, you will find a person who honestly and beautifully writes about being hurt, suffering, and about her brave healing journey. Though her writings are deeply personal, they are usually delivered in a dreamy, poetic, metaphorical prose, which makes it easy to find our commonalities. Jennifer is an awesome example of how one does the brave work of survival and reformation.
A belated thanks to you, Leah, for profiling me and my blog. And a huge thank you to my friends for reading and coming here and saying such wonderful things about me and my writing!
As for my security clearance and my new career pathway . . . maybe there is some way to combine them? 🙂
Jennifer – I’m so glad I found you! Keep writing your stories so we can read them. <3