Kristen Heinlein

I've spent a lot of time trying to pinpoint the moment when the magic turned into mania. Like food that silently expires in the back corner of the fridge. One day it nourishes you, The next day, it makes you sick. Things can change THAT QUICKLY. For me, the shift began on a night that should have been perfectly ordinary...even sweet. It was the night before 1st grade, and Andy and I were helping our older kids tuck "ready confetti" beneath their pillows. We read the little poem together, that...

It’s impossible to pick up this blog where I left off — because I’m not the same person anymore. The woman writing this now has lived a few lifetimes since then. It won’t blend seamlessly, and that’s okay. Transformations have happened across the board — big and small — and I’m using my journals to process and make sense of it all. In the fall of 2022, we made the bittersweet decision to leave Augusta, Georgia — our home for the past decade. We had spent our entire twenties there. I moved for a

A As an art teacher, I've spent a lot of time over the years trying to convince people they weren't "bad" at XY&Z. From children ("I'm so bad at painting!") to parents ("I don't know where Sally gets her talent from. I can't draw a stick figure to save my life.") Responding to the self-doubt of others has been a "career quirk" I didn't see coming and certainly something never addressed in undergrad. It's human instinct (I think?) to try to transform yourself into a human pillow of comfort...