in 2013, i was alone in my college dorm room while all my friends were out on valentines dates.
my dad sent me
@dominos
for dinner and as a broke college student eating only dining hall food, i felt like it was a feast.
i watched romcoms and ate my pizza and felt loved.
a friend of mine is having her 3rd baby and instead of a sprinkle or baby shower (even though itโs her first boy) she is having a nesting party.
we are going to her house to meal prep and do baby laundry and help make her more ready and i LOVE this idea.
more nesting parties!
iโve never had an abortion but my access to healthcare has changed because Roe was overturned.
I have
#Lupus
which is an inflammatory autoimmune disease that causes my immune system to attack my organs, joints, skin, and muscles.
i take
#Methotrexate
as one of my treatments
recently i went to the doctor and explained that the medicine to regulate my heart rate is just not doing what it should and iโm miserable.
i asked to try a new med, rather than increase the dosage bc weโd already increased 4 times and it wasnโt touching the issue.
Roe was overturned 6 days ago. in less than one week i lost access to healthcare that i need because the drug could be used to induce abortions.
it took 144 hours for me to have less safe healthcare because Roe was overturned.
Donโt tell me youโre pro-life.
me: a youth pastor i met on a dating app ejaculated on a photo of me and sent it to me and told me he canโt controls himself around me and i felt like that was unsafe behavior for someone working with kids so i told his employer
because i have a headache. again.
because my heart rate is over 110 just sitting on the couch watching tv. again.
because the med isnโt working. AGAIN.
womenโs healthcare is so fucked.
@elmo
we started this year. STARTED IT. by trauma dumping so hard on elmo the official sesame street account had to tweet out mental health resources.
god help us.
i received an email from my rheumatologist today that they are stopping all refills of methotrexate because it is considered an abortifacient.
Methotrexate is a form of chemotherapy. But in reduced quantities it can be taken long term to help with many autoimmune diseases.
i am about to turn 29 and for most of my 20โs i had no friends.
like zero. zilch. nada. i moved back to my parents bc i realized in an emergency i didnโt even have anyone to watch my dog. i was stranded and alone and lonely.
adulthood friends are hard to find and keep.
nearly half of all women have an organ literally fall out of their body in their life and itโs just an understood fact of life.
i absolutely will always believe that women are the stronger sex simply bc our medical care is the equivalent of โoh wow. that sucksโ and nothing else
because between the pandemic and this - you are certainly not pro my life.
none of what has happened to me had anything to do with the life of a baby or my reproductive health and i now have to accelerate a treatment timeline so i donโt have a gap in care.
stranger man on the internet: idk thatโs on you & fucked up. just bc he doesnโt understand consent and sexual harassment doesnโt mean he shouldnโt work with kids.
yโall stay telling on yourselves
and now i get to spend the summer learning if my body will be more responsive to this new drug.
because of Roe v. Wade i had care that made my disabled life easier. and they took that from me. and i am mad as hell.
just a *reminder* that our student loans were supposed to be forgiven and then they just *werenโt* and the payment pause is up again soon.
we were fucking lied to & everyone stopped fighting for it and now everyone thinks something happened that didnโt so itโll never happen now
i explained that iโd rather be healthy and feel good and then talk to her about adjusting it if i found a partner or wanted a baby.
she said โwell. you never know what the future can hold. so letโs just try increasing itโ
i just went to bed early. again.
she said that she wanted to try increasing it one more time bc the next medicine sheโd have me try is black boxed for pregnancy.
i asked if we could try it anyways since im single and not even having sex so pregnancy isnโt even a risk factor right now
itโs day 4 of my period and i just bled through my pad for the 3rd time this cycle and iโve been changing them every 3-4 hours.
i have more days of this and every doctor has said iโm fine and itโs normal. i donโt need medical advice.
**i would also like to clarify that this may be temporary in my state. i think some places are seeing large over corrections to avoid legal trouble. i love my rheumatologist and she was so apologetic about this**
if this is happening in a blue state with no trigger law, think of those in red states where abortion isnโt even legal. and those states that have trigger laws causing extreme and immediate loss of access.
further clarification - I live in Virginia and abortion is legal here. but it is not protected by law and individual providers and pharmacies can decide what they will and wonโt do re: abortifacients. this is why i believe my limited access is temporary.
i learned recently that my dad AND my brother face the shower head when they shower and not away from it.
what kind of psycho behavior is THAT?!?!!!??!!!
just casually water boarding yourself every morning?!?!!!??
plz. this is a civilized society. ๐ญ
in case you didnโt see at the launch of this line, Selena developed this packaging specifically for people with disabilities.
the twist top is easy to grip and turn. the eyeliner is a bigger size. you can tell someone whose hands donโt always work developed this
but i need you to know that women have to act NORMAL while this is happening.
i donโt even care if you think itโs TMI. imagine living it.
itโs absolutely hell. and it deserves more care and attention than it gets.
the next year, i was living with some other single friends and we wanted to celebrate with each other and my dad, again, sent us
@dominos
and made sure we all had enough.
we were giggling and squealing and had the best night. and i felt so loved. and i got to share it.
@heyletsmakestuf
YES. and like. i told her i didnโt think i needed to worry about that bc even if i wanted to my body wouldnโt be capable of having sex right now so iโd rather just get better.
still wouldnโt budge ๐ฉ๐
today i went and cleaned out my personal effects from my car and handed in the keys.
it has officially been repossessed.
and while i have struggled my fair share with car payments. this car was paid off in 2021. but i missed something. and i want to talk about it.
the NEXT year, my friend group had grown and everyone knew about โbeckyโs dad who sends
@dominos
โ
and parks and rec had gifted us the galentines terminology and thus our holiday had a name.
my dad sent us SO. MUCH. FOOD.
it was the best night. i felt so loved. and wanted.
and thatโs how the love of one really really great dad has multiplied into a yearly celebration with my girls.
his act of consistent love for me has blossomed into a celebration my friends and i make time for every year. for over a decade now.
he is the best of the very best
Hi All - I have a request. One that is hard for me to make. But I need the help and this community has helped before.
Honestly feeling embarrassed, but y'all have shown up before and I just can't do this one completely on my own.
even this past weekend there was a galentines with my girls and their kids now.
itโs multi-generational.
bc my dad knew how to show up and make me feel loved when i was 500 miles away.
happy galentines to all my gals ๐ my dad would buy us all pizza if he could.
starting fights over on facebook bc i will die on this hill that my life is not expendable for your own convenience bc you have kids and i donโt. absolutely the fuck not.
someone just said โcan you imagine what it must have been like to have been old enough to remember the royal wedding?!โ
and i thought they were talking Charles and Diana.
but they meant Will and Kate โ ๏ธ
i had a tweet go accidentally, a little viral about makeup and disabilities and i need to be firm and clear right now:
you do not get to gate-keep what is disability friendly. Selena Gomez has Lupus. That is a disability.
She designed this for her disability needs.
Someone has been trying to explain to me that it was a happy accident that Selena Gomez's packaging was disability friendly and that she designed it for her.
Selena has a disability. When people with disabilities create things they are inherently designed for disabled people
CW: Weight Loss
for the first time in 4 years a doctor today looked at me and said โi want to treat your weight as a symptom not the source of the problemโ
and he put me on a SAFE weight loss medication meant to encourage only as much weight loss as it takes to help me.
****i intentionally waited to share this until after it was done. i do not want advice. or to be told i had options. or to receive money. this is me sharing something that happens everyday in america that we donโt talk about and that i want to talk about****
i havenโt dated. i havenโt found myself or some great lifeโs purpose.
and i just wish someone had told me all of that was fine and normal. so consider this me - telling you.
bc the friends i have now? would all say about the same.
itโs ok to feel all of it. we all did too.
yโall have been very kind to me in this and iโm very thankful ๐ซถ
hereโs me with my katie bell the kia the day i got her. she was a treasure of a first car and i will love her always.
if you hear nothing else i ever say - hear this
DO NOT EVER SAY โi didnโt know love until i had a kidโ or โi never could comprehend the ways God loved me until i had kidsโ
it is so hurtful & reductive and dismissive of everyone in your life who loves you. & who donโt have kids
then i moved home to finish school. and my dad would pick me up some food or give me a gift card but i missed celebrating with my girls.
but thankfully i was a young youth group leader with a lot of energy and a disposable income.
so the galentines day event was born.
iโd like to say it gets better but really it just gets different. you find different ways to make connections and find community.
but mostly? you become so comfortable with who you are having no friends doesnโt feel like a character flaw.
your 20โs arenโt glamorous.
this is also a friend who regularly opens her home to me, her single 30yo friend. i bring coffees and she throws some food in the oven and we sit and talk for hours while we clean up toys or play with her twins or do bedtime routines.
it is one of my most precious friendships
i want all the men who shit talk womenโs periods to be abruptly woken up in the middle of the night w horrible cramps, realize theyโve leaked, get up, change & clean up. go take pain relievers & in the exhaustion of the moment - accidentally take a nighttime sleep aid at 4am.
we did taco tuesday one year. another year it was decorations and discounted candy.
and then we did our biggest one yet and it was brunch. we had decorations. themed food. gifts. and my house was packed with 20+ high school girls.
going to see my friend and her twins tomorrow at lunch.
i decided at 4pm to make them matching stuffed animals.
i just finished the first one. follow along to see who wins this race against time. my insomnia, this project, or needing to leave tomorrow afternoon.
@emilykmay
โproperly care for a manโ
iโm sorry. does he want to be married to HIS MOM?! i donโt even properly care for MYSELF. absolutely not interested in doing it for a GROWN ASS MAN
from the archives:
I was performing a special music offering song with the pastorโs daughter. i was told not to hold the microphone bc it would look inappropriate and cause men to stumble.
@EznaBr
iโve had all the tests and iโm completely healthy reproductively. but thank you! this is just the reality of what is for me and itโs manageable and survivable. but itโs def not discussed enough how normal we have to act while going through it!
@KoshaVavoom
please fuck off with the transphobia. trans women are real women. you arenโt welcome, wanted, or safe in this reply group. have the fucking day you deserve ๐๐ป
that $230 has been accruing interest and late fees. and those late fees had been accruing interest.
how this was never communicated to me? i will never know. or understand.
but two moves, one across state lines and an abuser who handled my mailโฆi canโt say it didnโt come.
i cried the whole first month of college bc i didnโt know anyone and i missed my parents.
my first weekend on my own i went to mcdonaldโs for breakfast and walked around target and cried about needing a GPS to find a gas station.
i had no idea what i was doing. i had no money.
i am applying for 10-15 jobs a day.
every time i get an email saying they are not moving forward with me i apply for an extra job to fill the spot of the one i lost out on.
today i have to apply to 18 jobs.
itโs depressing af to wake up to rejections.
the long of it all? i missed this. and as a result. i owed $1160 on the car now.
they came and took it out of my driveway. and i have sobbed and cried and wondered where the fuck rock bottom is bc i would very much like to hit it now.
this was the picture on my dating app. when i matched with a youth pastor from richmond.
i had butterflies. everything felt so promising.
until i didnโt. until he wasnโt.
this was the picture that was pulled up in the photo he sent me. the photo of himโฆfinishingโฆ
itโs infuriating and iโd like some answers and answers soon and
@POTUS
and
@VP
owe us a statement.
we cannot let them forget this or move past it or fucking CAMPAIGN ON IT AGAIN.
iโm honestly so pissed about it i canโt put coherent thoughts together
that car was my lifeline to safety for so many years. i slept in it. drove for hours. made random road trips.
and so i feel very untethered without it. but i no longer need that lifeline to safety. i can let it go now.
iโve felt a lot of things. embarrassed. ashamed. like a failure. a mess. stupid. irresponsible. financially illiterate.
but itโs done. and i will wallow about. and then i will pick myself back up. and get my life back under me again.
she was very clear and open about it.
thousands of others with disabilities have affirmed it. it was designed with us in mind simply by being designed with Selena in mind.
we arenโt going to discount the intentional work of a disabled woman as a โhappy accidentโ
open your home in unconventional ways and watch how your village transforms into something beautiful and deep.
my greatest treasures are loving my friends kids in the maddeningly ordinary parts of life.
and showing up for laundry and meal prep parties ๐
for this particular lender, i needed a payoff quote. this quote calculates in some admin fees, accrued interest, and any other misc fees.
i paid the principal balance down to $0 but never noticed the payoff fees or understood to look for it.
the total? $230.
after calculating expenses, unemployment, health needs, and what is reasonable for me to do
it was decided to let the car go. and so i handed in the keys and got my stuff and said goodbye to Katie Bell the Kia.
one of the biggest things that made twitter so appealing to me was the ability to get nearly instantaneous, multi-perspective, credible access to news and world events.
i felt empowered and informed. yesterday was a harsh wake up call that we donโt have that here anymore.
i didnโt know what a payoff quote was. had never heard of it. didnโt think i would need it. I was just making larger than average payments each month and slowly hacking my way through the loan.
but it turns out, paying off a car early not only sinks your credit scoreโฆ
quick follow up.
i donโt need medical advice was not a free pass to offer it up and suggest things like a hysterectomy.
this was meant to bring awareness that our lack of proper understanding of periods has led us to believe this is โnot normalโ when it very much can be.
every time a woman says โsorry if this is too muchโ or โsorry i just get really excitedโ
i want to vow to become a celibate assassin who hunts down the man that made her feel like she needed to ever say that or that itโs something to be sorry over.
@BellaEnglebach
asking is fine. and most often people say yes. but demanding or making it a requirement of someone who didnโt create the problem is my issue. i am not required nor am i rude for keeping my seat. i can move and always have when asked. but that is not the rule or expectation
you donโt have to take every rejection lying down. we can be respectful and ask for better.
woke up today feeling confused and disappointed that this wasnโt my first day of work.
decided to do something about it.
i bought this car in 2019. i LOVED it. the first car iโve ever owned. So proud of the negotiations and research i did.
and while living in poverty and abuse i still managed to pay it off.
so why did it end up getting repoโd out of my driveway this week?
the payoff quote.
Amy Grant hosting her nieceโs gay wedding is the redemption arc that all exvangelicals needed for 2022.
look how easy it is to grow up in it and not be shitty. we were right to leave who we did and when we did ๐๐ป
she donates the proceeds to various charities, including Lupus research!! She helped fund the development of the medicine that put my Lupus into remission.
iโm starting to flare again but itโs so much easier knowing i have access to something that works.
not for me. i blocked him on everything.
i felt this ache in my bones that he wasnโt safe and he was around kids.
it was met with๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ.silence. and it was the first time i started to see the
#churchtoo
in the
#metoo
heโs married now. with two kids. and still a pastor there.
the meghan markle podcast on spotify is ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ
Archetypes is profound and real and honest and is a force to be reckoned with in addressing and tearing apart the labels women are given.
i literally cry and laugh and shout amen
Here is to all of us who hate the heat and hate the summertime. Can someone normalize seasonal affective disorder for those of us who would like to not have to pretend this is a great time of year? thankssomuch
the truth is this CAN BE normal. and we need to have better accommodations and awareness and overall appreciation for the things women experience with their periods.
and being sent 600+ replies with advice is overwhelming for anyone.
iโm going to say this to all my married friends with the utmost gentleness and earnestness -
it is very likely that youโve hurt your single friends or trivialized their life and i would urge you to sit with that and then ask the single friends in your life what hurts them
he was a youth pastor. i was sick thinking of a man like that being with kids.
so at the prompting of friends, i emailed the church he worked at. I told the pastors and elders what had transpired. i kept emotion out of it. stuck to the facts. implored them to step in.
going to see my friend and her twins tomorrow at lunch.
i decided at 4pm to make them matching stuffed animals.
i just finished the first one. follow along to see who wins this race against time. my insomnia, this project, or needing to leave tomorrow afternoon.
and i canโt ever use this picture i used to love again. it will only ever be that moment for me.
i sent the email 4 years ago this week. and i donโt ever think about it much anymore. but i did today.
i felt so broken. and i wont tell you what my abusers said when i told them.
where do you exist in your body?
like for me, i am right behind my inner eyes and behind my nose. sometimes up in my forehead but mostly just right in the upper middle of my face.
someone asked this on tiktok and i am fascinated
@Sunathetuna
itโs not fair. but itโs also not my problem to fix. i will most likely move for someone who asks! but when people act like itโs their right. or that itโs rude for me to say no - thatโs when i wonโt do it.
i didnโt get just one opinion. iโve done multiple. i didnโt do just one test. iโve done all of them. i know thereโs no way any of you would know that as you arenโt my doctors but that is why i clearly said i donโt need medical advice & i have done all the tests to get all clear
i remember vividly one day my 8y.o. came home from school. and it had been one of those parent days. either dad or mom had been there. i donโt remember. and he looked at me and said โi wish there was a becky day. i want you to come to school to see me tooโ
The folks against โgrown ups and donutsโ instead of specifying mom or dad all came back to saying that if we donโt celebrate parents, kids will grow up not knowing that having involved parents is important and I just -
itโs complicated and messy. i miss the time when i could just love this picture. when i still had faith in โgoodโ pastors. and mostly. when matching with a youth pastor felt like hope and not a red flag full of dread.
wait. everyone just wait. ok.
โฆ..please stop telling me about your grandmas vagina and what has fallen out of it.
this is not the kind of awareness i was looking for.
@emily_kushla
Emily. I remember vividly sitting on a friends couch at 23 and SOBBING. bc no one ever said it was this hard. you are not alone. ๐ we spend SO much of our lives in environments of forced friendships. the same life stages. and then all of the sudden we are just on our own.
i was horrified. the photo was sent with an alarming message attached. about how he wasnโt sure heโd be able to control himself when he saw me. because of what i did to him.
as if i would be flattered by that. as if it would make me as excited as he seemed.