laura m.

Being a writer is the most embarrassing thing in the world! I write down the entire contents of my soul for validation! And then some editor will just be like no thanks!

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Can anything be wackier than CAT WOMEN OF THE MOON ?? 🐱🌛

Thank you so much! I hope you have a lovely 2026. Following back! 😊🩶

Thank you so much! I hope it's a good year for you as well 🩵

It's been quite a year. Celebrating the end of 2025, and also celebrating the resilience it taught us. Sending love and wishes for peace to all. 💗

A TV shows the title screen from the film "Carol" (2019); three posters for the film are hung in frames on the wall over the TV.

Annual New Year's Eve viewing of CAROL (yes, we watch it on Dec. 21 and Dec. 31). 🎉

A series of small cascades in a creek.

A waterfall.

A waterfall.

A waterfall.

Scenes from yesterday's hike at Thacher Park. Restorative to get some fresh air and movement during the holiday.

A black-and-white scene from the 1945 film "Christmas in Connecticut" featuring Barbara Stanwyck standing beside a wide bedecked tree and Dennis Morgan seated at a piano is shown on a TV.

Annual Xmas Day viewing of CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT. 🎄✨

Every Dec. 21!

Alistair Sim = best Scrooge 🎩

Didn't get the job. Probably not because of the book question. (But I'm heartbroken about it because they even did a background check and polled all three of my references, so it seemed possible.) 😔

For the record, I've already read 52 books in 2025. But only the cancer ones came to mind. 😳

When you're in a job interview and they ask, "What's one book you've read recently?" and all you can think of are the 6 books on cancer you've consumed this year ... 😅

The leaves up here are heavenly! 🍁

Our first weekend away since ... everything. And it was the perfect time to revisit this city I love so much (Kingston, Ontario). 🇨🇦

A deer with big antlers looks toward the camera while standing among trees and fallen leaves in the forest.

Lovely hike this morning at Five Rivers. And we encountered this beautiful buck who was just off the trail! So glad to be able to get back out in nature again, even if I still have to stick to flat easy trails. 🦌

I'm just a person, standing in front of an insurance company representative, asking them for the eighth time to explain WHY an in-network provider's bills keep getting classified as "out of network" ...

Oncologist said last week that I can have a little break before starting 5+ years of preventative meds. I have the pills but am planning to wait until about Oct 15 to start them so I can focus on getting stronger.

I feel like I look a thousand years older. (Not sleeping more than 4-5 hours a night anymore probably has something to do with that.) But now I don't have to follow up for a whole year! We're on the other side!

Post-surgical followup went well! Surgeon lifted all restrictions, so in theory I don't need my old-lady reacher to pick things up off the floor anymore and can start light weight training again, etc. (In practice I expect to remain cautious for another 4-6 weeks so I don't risk tearing stitches.)

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We had been planning to take an epic road trip to WV and hike in New River Gorge plus other amazing places. Been planning for months. I was so excited! Now I can't even sit up for an episode of TV, so long car trips feel so far off. Trying not to let myself get too discouraged. I know it takes time.

Surgery recovery is going a bit better: I feel more like myself, planning for future things, which wasn't happening a week ago. But I'm still sad about losing my summer. As Monday (my first in-person teaching day of the fall term) approaches, I'm mourning the vacation we never got to take in May ...

I keep almost posting and then deleting it. This surgery recovery has been really rough; I'm only six days out but it feels like forever. Feels like it'll be forever before I'm back on my feet, back to myself. My body is trying to figure itself out again and throwing me wicked anxiety too. Ugh.

Am I ready for my hysterectomy + oophorectomy on Monday? Not sure. But ALL of my lesson plans for both schools are DONE! For the whole semester! And all assignments and materials are up on each LMS. I can spend the rest of my summer recovering ... ❤️‍🩹

Onco-gyno appointment this morning. Looks like I'm having a hysterectomy + oophorectomy to reduce my uterine cancer risk from the hormone receptor modulator meds I'll have to take for up to a decade. Those meds increase uterine cancer risk by 30%! Surgery is scheduled for 8/11. Here we go ...

3-in-1 stain was always obviously a total lie.

It really is! Hmm, as a writer maybe I need to do something about that.

But thank you for your reply - it means a lot.

I'm going on about this not to throw myself a pity party but because it's not something we talk about! "Survivorship" is a complicated and individual thing, but it would be nice if we all, collectively, knew more about this stuff. Movies & TV show people "beating cancer" but not the lifelong impact.