When I was about 15, my dad decided I needed to learn how to cook all of his recipes. He had been the primary cook in the household since I was a toddler, when my mom got a job that kept her out of the house more. My dad had also been the person who … Continue reading My Dad Made Me A Feminist
Last summer, as did so many people, I joined some dating apps. The lockdown was starting to get old and I was bored. All in all, the experience was awful, but I’m not necessarily mad about it. At any rate, I matched with a guy from the next town over. For privacy’s sake, we’ll say … Continue reading Worst First Date
In an effort to improve my health and get out of the house some, I’ve recently begun getting up at 5am and going for a walk around my neighborhood. Typically I just do a couple of laps of my block and call it a day. It’s some nice exercise, there aren’t a lot of people … Continue reading I’m So Mad Right Now
A friend of mine every year goes to Jamaica for a week. She and her husband spend the week sitting on the beach. They read, they talk, they relax. And every year she talks about how much she can’t wait to go back. I’m happy for her that she’s found something that relaxes her (and … Continue reading I Don’t Do Beach Vacations
Science tells us that of all our senses, scent is the one that triggers memory the strongest. You walk into a room and the smell of butterscotch reminds you of your grandfather who kept a dish of Werthers on the coffee table. Or you walk into a salon in Chicago and are suddenly transported to … Continue reading The Sound of Memory
Have you ever done something stupid or embarrassing? Something that made you blush or left you feeling totally mortified? And did you lay in bed that night playing it back in your mind over and over, feeling that embarrassment all over again? Yeah, me too. I was in second grade at a small school, if … Continue reading The Persistence of Embarrassment
It was late on a Tuesday night. I was scrolling through Facebook when the message popped up. The name was familiar though I had to think back to remember how I knew him. We had been in a marketing group in college together. Now, it had been eight years since I’d graduated and he was … Continue reading The Pitch
At the end of January, I found myself in the ER with horrific pain on my left side. After CT scans and ultrasounds, it was discovered that in addition to the ovarian cyst that had ruptured, I had a massive ovarian cyst on my right side. Follow up appointments were set, I saw a gynecologist … Continue reading The Wait
When my friend had booked the apartment, we had no idea that Benidorm, Spain was the favorite cheap holiday spot of the British. All we knew was that it was a half day’s journey from where we were living in Salamanca, that it was on the Mediterranean, it had beaches, and it was cheap. And … Continue reading St. Patrick was Scottish… Or Maybe Welsh
Okay, a disclaimer: I haven’t actually watched the hit Netflix show. But I have seen the memes and someone on Facebook relayed Marie’s advice to only keep three print books. And that hurt my heart. I have loved books since I was tiny. They were my first friends, the things that brought me comfort and … Continue reading My Books Do Spark Joy, Marie
KT Byrde Writes 