Midwest Mimi

  • Not Cosmetic

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

  • The Hidden Cost of Simple Things

    A fall in the shower took only a few seconds, but the recovery may take days. This is the hidden cost of chronic illness: simple things are not always simple, and a slower pace does not mean a smaller dream.

  • 11 Things That Help When My Body Is Done

    Some days my body is just done. Not one thing. Not just pain. All of it. These are the small, real things that actually help me get through.

  • I Haven’t Had a Good Day in a While

    I haven’t had a good day in a while. Not because I stopped trying, but because my body hasn’t caught up. This is what it looks like to keep showing up when even small things hurt.

  • I Am Not Lazy. I Am Regulating.

    From the outside, my life probably looks lazy. But what looks like laziness is actually regulation. Rest, pacing, and adaptation are not failures. They are how I survive chronic illness and continue showing up for my family and myself.

  • The Day I Stopped Explaining Myself

    After nearly dying from respiratory failure, I stopped explaining myself. Living with chronic illness taught me that understanding is not something you can force, and survival does not require justification. This is the story of choosing boundaries, rest, and presence over being understood.

  • What Chronic Illness Actually Costs Families (Not Just the Person Who Is Sick)

    Chronic illness does not just cost pain. It costs childhood ease, canceled plans, and quiet adaptations no one sees. When a parent becomes ill, families adjust in ways that are loving and necessary, but not without impact. This is a reflection on the invisible ripple effects and the children who step up long before they…

  • Plan B Still Counts: Regulating a Neurodivergent Nervous System in Motherhood

    Some days, nothing flows. The house is loud, plans stall, and sensory overload starts stacking until your body waves red flags. This is a reflection on choosing Plan B, protecting a neurodivergent nervous system, and why rest and reset days are not failure but wisdom learned the hard way.

  • The Kind of Strength That Holds a Family Together

    Disabled motherhood builds a kind of strength people rarely talk about. From crisis moments to chronic illness days, this is what it looks like to love a family fiercely while carrying more than most people will ever know.

  • The Hidden Cost of Being Strong

    Behind the calm I show the world is a body fighting to regulate itself. This is the hidden cost of strength for those of us living with disability and sensory overwhelm.

  • The World Looks Purple To Me

    A journey from innocence, to hustling for survival, to rebuilding life after chronic illness. Motherhood, queerness, and the purple lens that reveals what is worth fighting for.

  • 10 Chronic Illness Hacks That Truly Make Life Easier

    Living with chronic illness means that everyday life takes more energy, planning, and creativity than most people realize. Over the last ten years, I’ve had to learn how to adapt and find little ways to make things easier, not just for me, but for my whole family. These aren’t “perfect life hacks” from the internet.…

  • The Difference Between Canceling and Choosing Rest

    When you live with chronic illness, disability, or even just the daily realities of parenting, plans don’t always unfold the way you imagine. Sometimes, life forces you to cancel. Other times, you make the choice to rest. On the surface they can look the same: you’re not showing up. But the meaning and the weight…

  • How to Talk to Kids About Invisible Illness

    Recently, my fifteen-year-old daughter Raeleigh asked me if we could go to the mall. Makes sense—she’s a teenager with her first job and a few dollars she was excited to spend. But that particular day, I was in pain and running on empty. My answer had to be, “Not today.” Her face shifted with disappointment,…

  • The Part You Don’t See: Living with Invisible Illness

    I wish I could invite people into my body for just one weekend. Not to feel pity, but to understand. Because on the outside, I look like I’m managing. I can make it to a two-night camping trip with my kids. I can smile around the fire, walk slowly to the lake, laugh when the…