Midwest Mimi

  • The Skateboard Is the Way In

    Two baskets of library books showed me what changes when learning begins with a child’s real interests. For Channing, the skateboard became the way in.

  • What Progress Actually Sounds Like

    My children did not lack the ability to learn. They lacked schools prepared to support them. This is what happened and what progress sounded like after we left.

  • What If We’re Measuring Intelligence by the Wrong Things?

    A mystery novel made me think differently about the way we measure intelligence. In my own family, communication looks radically different from person to person, and I’ve learned that speech, reading, and quick answers are only part of the story.

  • What My Kids Learned From Watching Me Be Sick

    My kids have learned from watching me be sick that bodies have limits, asking for help is not failure, and families sometimes have to carry different corners of the load. My illness has cost them things, but it has also taught them that children do not need an invincible mother. They need one who loves…

  • Help Has a Voicemail

    I have a list on my phone that looks like it should belong to someone who works for a human services agency. Except I do not. I am the mother. Before disabled families receive help, there is another job no one talks about: finding the help. It is a full-time, unpaid, invisible job filled with…

  • I Am Not Less Autistic Because I Learned How to Live

    I am not less autistic because I have learned how to manage myself. I am not less autistic because I can stay calm in a crisis, build recovery days into my life, or recognize my limits before I break down. I have just been paying attention.

  • The Same Girl Either Way

    A personal essay about homeschool culture, girlhood, faith, rebellion, and learning that someone else’s narrow idea of a “godly girl” did not get to define who I was.

  • Not Cosmetic

    A personal essay about illness, poverty, motherhood, Medicaid, medical dismissal, and what happens when visible survival gets mistaken for failure.

  • When There’s No Cushion Left

    When you live with no cushion left, one small problem never stays small. A power outage, a broken washer, a missed deposit, and an empty tank can turn an ordinary day into something much heavier.

  • The Survivable Option

    When you are poor, calling for help is never just about help. It is about what follows. In a crisis, parenting becomes a calculation between different kinds of risk. This is the story of the day I chose what looked indefensible from the outside and necessary from the inside.

  • Nature Indoors: How Pets Help Neurodivergent People Find Calm and Connection

    Some days, getting outside just isn’t in the cards. My body hurts too much to load the van. The weather’s wild. Or the kids are on sensory overload before we even leave the driveway. But even when we’re stuck indoors, we still crave nature. We crave softness, connection, and moments that help our nervous systems…