Bostunned. We Relish.

We often talk of life turning on a dime or about unexpected calamities that we are unable to peel our thoughts away from. The truth is, I suppose, that life can turn on a dime and point to something amazing just as easily.

The College Try? Never Heard of It.

As written for Grown and Flown, a terrific resource for parents to discover just how normal their teens actually are. Well, we’re only one week into summer break and, already, I’m over it. Not the whole thing, but definitely the part where I (again) live with a seventeen-year-old who (again) I really do love very, … Continue reading The College Try? Never Heard of It. →

Managing Our Marriage with Acronyms.

If you ask for relationship tips from either my husband or me, there is a high chance it will involve an acronym. And it's not even WTF.

An Ode to Father’s Day: Dadisms

Fathers are often the Ying to our mothering Yang, a much-needed variant that keeps our homes functioning by offering an essential, more palatable opposite side of the parenting coin.

Public Meltdown (thank you, Drew)

God bless you, Drew Barrymore. You always were a Firestarter.

Toilet Paper Paws

Are you there, God? It’s me Jyl. It’s me Jyl and, for the third time in five months, I am back on the healing couch. Also, are you mad at me?

The Meatball that Saved Our Marriage.

At the end of each year, I like to reflect back on the moments that shaped it for me. In 2022, a frozen meatball saved our marriage.

Going to the Chapel … someone else’s, but still.

I am fully prepared to amp up my Wedding Pinterest Board as we head into this new year. Okay, yes, I am already married. It’s just that I haven’t been to a wedding in years and 2023 marks my nephew's big day and I may already be out of control.

The Longest One Night Stand

The first time my now-husband told me he loved me, we were standing next to his car in the parking lot of the same restaurant in which we had met four months earlier. It was awkward on many levels.

My Father. Oh, How He Has Risen.

It’s an interesting view, as a child, to witness the decline of one parent and the subsequent rise of the other as a need for caretaking develops.