Author Archives: Kathy

BPDFamily

BPDFamily invited me to write a post about how my thinking about my mom has changed since learning about borderline personality. The website is a gathering place for people with family members with BPD. Here’s the post:   http://www.bpdfamily.com/content/maybe-she-did-best-she-could-do

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How To Be Happy

I’ve written a fair number of words about my friend Father Dan Begin and have decided for various reasons to begin sharing them now and then. This is a transcription of a homily delivered on August 3, 2008, in which … Continue reading

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Serendipity

“A certain man once lost a diamond cuff-link in the wide blue sea, and twenty years later, on the exact day, a Friday apparently, he was eating a large fish—but there was no diamond inside. That’s what I like about … Continue reading

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Another Gift

Kimberlee Roth’s book Surviving a Borderline Parent: How to Heal Your Childhood Wounds & Build Trust, Boundaries, and Self-Esteem helped me a lot when I began exploring the possibility that my my mom had suffered from borderline personality disorder.  Everything about … Continue reading

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At Long Last

It’s been years of writing, reading, revising, waiting, feeling hopeful, not feeling hopeful, and waiting some more. Missing: Coming to Terms with a Borderline Mother is now available, published by Red Giant Books this week. Try always to patronize your local independent … Continue reading

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Seeing The Sand Pebbles

Once upon a time, directly after Latin class, a certain John asked a certain Kathy to see a movie called The Sand Pebbles. Sadly, Kathy, a member of the marching band, was unavailable because of a football game on the … Continue reading

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Operant Conditioning

You most often train dogs with treats to reinforce their behavior. My husband has a habit of “dropping” bits of food for our dog Roxie when he’s eating. Then he acts disappointed when she begs. “John,” I say. “She was trained. … Continue reading

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Circle Dance

Many years ago, my good friend Barb said something I never forgot. “People shouldn’t say they did the best they could. Nobody ever does the best they can,” she remarked with the wise authority of a person in her early twenties. Struck … Continue reading

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Dickens and Goodness

Although I just finished Bleak House, which I began back in January, don’t ask me who Gridley is, because some of the minor characters are a muddle in my mind. I could tell you a little about Smallweed and Snagsby and Guppy and the … Continue reading

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Roxie and Verna

This whole dog thing started because of a story Verna used to tell over and over again. It was a very sad story I can’t bear to repeat, but it had to do with leaving behind her much-loved dog when … Continue reading

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