by Ivy Hughes | Apr 13, 2020 | Coronavirus, Coronavirus and death, Grief, Mindfulness, Survivorship
Today was hard. Today, I felt what it’s going to be like when my parents die. First, I woke in the wee small hours of the morning because I felt one of my children scream. I have two boys. They are two and are currently with their father, with whom I share custody....
by Ivy Hughes | Mar 24, 2020 | Compassion, Coronavirus
If you believe the majority of coronavirus deaths are occurring among a throw away, older population that has already lived; is well past its use; and won’t be missed if time accelerates for them by ten or twenty years, this is an excellent time for expansion. I used...
by Ivy Hughes | Mar 16, 2020 | Belief, Coronavirus, Value
I went to Walmart the other day and by the time I was halfway through the store, I was in such a panic about COVID-19 and the end of the world that I started throwing shit I never buy into my cart. Shit like salt and vinegar kettle chips; baked Cheetos; and cheese...
by Ivy Hughes | Jan 8, 2020 | Dating after cancer, Life after breast cancer, Life after cancer, Relationships and sex, Sex after cancer, Surviving cancer, Survivorship
Reclaiming your sexual self after cancer is as bad as it sounds. Actually, it’s worse. It’s like falling off a shining new Gary Fisher and then being given a unicycle with a flat tire and a rusty chain. It takes effort where effort wasn’t previously required and it...
by Ivy Hughes | Oct 15, 2019 | Life after breast cancer, Life after cancer, Mindfulness, Self love, Surviving narcissists, Survivorship
One of the saddest objects of affection is the unsent love letter. A few weeks ago, following two glasses of wine, I furiously wrote one of these and then hid it beneath my yoga teaching journals. Along with moaning about life and unfairness and all the other BS that...
by Ivy Hughes | Sep 30, 2019 | Life after breast cancer, Surfing, Travel
(Author’s note: This was originally published in surfing magazine, The Inertia after three national pubs said they’d accept this piece EXCEPT for the fact that El Salvador’s on a U.S. travel ban. Think about governments deciding where you can move...
by Ivy Hughes | Sep 12, 2019 | Cancer grief, Depression after cancer, Depression and cancer, Suicide, Surviving cancer, Survivorship
I have struggled with crippling depression since I was, I don’t know, four? But it wasn’t until I was in the midst of cancer treatments that I came to terms with the fact that my life might just be better if I surrender to Big Pharma and take some goddamn...
by Ivy Hughes | Sep 12, 2019 | Life after breast cancer, Raising kids, Raising kids after cancer, Raising twins
“Where is your shoe?” “Yeah.” “Seriously. Where is your shoe? There’s one over there and there’s one over there. Both lefties, one a sandal, one a tennis shoe. Where are the other ones?” “Yeah!” Thus began the twenty minute search to find two matching pairs of shoes...
by Ivy Hughes | Aug 30, 2019 | Cancer grief, Life after breast cancer, Life after cancer, Raising kids, Raising kids after cancer, Raising twins, Surviving cancer
Thanks to Scary Mommy for posting this one.
by Ivy Hughes | Aug 28, 2019 | Suicide, Surviving a child's suicide
One of the most baffling facts about my husband’s suicide, which occurred four years ago today, is that I don’t know where his body is. Theoretically, I do. It was cremated and then handed to his parents who have done with it whatever they felt necessary including not...
