Author Archives: jennifer-jenny-jen

The tail end of the childbearing years can be a mixed bag of emotions. Stymied by the idea of parents being outnumbered by children, most of my friends stopped at two, although some still looked wistfully at babies passing on the street. Some of my friends found themselves outnumbered not by choice but happenstance. OneContinue reading “emptying the nest.”

Note: this essay was originally published in POW: The Power of Words (2014), an anthology of writing from the Connecticut Writing Project summer labs and fellows. “Do you like a massage?” the woman at the nail salon asked me after I sat down at the manicurist’s table, about to get the the rare manicure I doContinue reading “how I got my first tattoo.”

The first time I was sedated, I was 18 and having my wisdom teeth extracted. I don’t remember much about that procedure except a brief moment of panic and hyperventilation as they inserted the IV into my arm, explained I would experience a “tinny taste” in my mouth, and asked me to count backwards fromContinue reading “one-night stands and torrid love affairs.”

Growing up, I read stories about gay kids who always “knew they were different,” “thought there was something wrong with them,” “never fit in” or “felt alone.” Never having felt any of these things, I couldn’t identify with my LGBT peers. I was popular, well liked, had plenty (well, a few) options for boyfriends, andContinue reading “being a work in progress.”

Christmas, Hanukkah, Easter, Passover, 4th of July, Memorial Day, birthdays, graduations, and every other major or minor life event in between: all excuses why we must suffer through another family gathering, not drunk enough but too drunk all the same, or horrifyingly sober and doomed to watch the shoddily knit lovey we call family unravelContinue reading “family matters.”

I was instantly drawn to her when we met. Our chemistry was palpable, magnetic: during the first movie we saw together, I thought I was imagining her leg pressing against mine, her shoulder leaning into me. Through late-night work sessions, our feet kept finding each other’s under the table where we sat across from eachContinue reading “pathological love.”

When my ex and I finally decided that we could no longer live under the same roof, co-parenting but not coupling, I knew I wanted to keep the house. After spending a year researching other options, seeing apartments, looking at other houses for sale, and envisioning starting over with a clean(er) slate, I had comeContinue reading ““keeping house.””

Psychotherapy is a funny thing when you’re a smart person: you can see five different therapists and you will get five different answers to your questions, and you’ll pick the therapist who gives you the answer you want, even if it’s not necessarily the answer you need. Considering my ex and I probably saw atContinue reading “not giving a f*@%”

Sitting outside with my neighbor, watching my children play in the front yard with her niece’s children, we got on the topic of marriage. She, married 40 years with five adult children, stated simply: it’s a lot of ups and downs. A lot of waves coming at you in sets over the years, with periodsContinue reading “contemplating divorce.”

All over the internet, people are coming out of the closet. Or at least, they are coming out all over my internet. It’s hard to know whether my newsfeed, tailored by Google and Facebook, is an accurate depiction of what is happening all over the world, or just in my world. Ellen Page, Connor Franta,Continue reading “cleaning out the closet.”