Midwest Mimi

  • I Have Lived, and I Still Love My Life

    Some evenings, peace feels like a summer breeze on the porch. My life has not been easy, and I would not choose every hard thing again. But my life is not only the record of what hurt me. It is family, survival, softness, love, and the ordinary wealth of a home I still want to…

  • Survival Is Not the Same as Safety: What We Forget When We Praise Strong Children

    When we praise children for being strong, we do not always ask what made them need that strength so young. Reading Demon Copperhead made me think about my daughter Rae, about the burned pot of macaroni and cheese she tried to make for her brother, and about the difference between a child being resilient and…

  • When Boredom Starts Looking Like Trouble

    Some minds do not do well with empty space. When there is no risk, no complexity, and no fire to put out, boredom can start looking like trouble. I am learning now that I do not need to kill the part of me that needs complexity. I need to stop feeding it poison. I need…

  • He Sounded Like Home, Even When Home Was Chaos

    When people say they love Jelly Roll, I know what they mean. But when I say it, I mean something different. I mean his music found me when I was still in the middle of my hustle years, back when survival felt like adrenaline and invincibility. This is not just about fandom. It is about…

  • Start Where You Are and Grow Something Anyway

    I thought I needed land to start a garden. A yard. The right setup. But all we had was a small porch, a few salvaged pots, and kids willing to get their hands dirty. So we started anyway. This is what it looks like to grow something real in a space that wasn’t built for…

  • The Life I’m Writing Into Existence

    I don’t have the money to build the life I want yet… so I’m writing it first. This is the story of how I’m creating a safer, slower, more intentional life for my family—starting with imagination and turning it into something real.

  • Being Thankful in the Middle of the Mess

    Thanksgiving doesn’t pause for real life. Chronic pain, grief, overwhelm, and sensory struggle still show up at the table. This is an honest look at how gratitude can sit beside the hard things, without pretending the hard things don’t exist.

  • 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.

  • 🌿 Building Something Together

    🌿 Building Something Together

    Midwest Mimi has grown into more than a blog. It’s a community built on real stories, real people, and the beauty of everyday life. Come connect across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube as we keep building something honest, hopeful, and human. 💚

  • The Privilege of Forgetting What Hunger Feels Like

    When SNAP benefits are delayed, millions of families face hunger again. We won’t go hungry, my family has helped when we needed it most, but so many people don’t have anyone to fall back on. This isn’t about soda or candy. It’s about dignity, belonging, and love that keeps showing up even when the world…

  • How Almost Dying Taught Me Life’s Too Short to Be Unhappy

    After surviving respiratory failure, I woke up to more than a second chance at life—I woke up to clarity. I stopped waiting for perfect moments, learned to protect my peace, and began truly living again. This is the story of how almost dying taught me what it means to be alive.

  • Lessons from Wonderland: What Alice Still Teaches Me About Life, Parenting, and Growing Up

    Lessons from Wonderland: What Alice Still Teaches Me About Life, Parenting, and Growing Up

    During a fall evening photo shoot turned Wonderland adventure, I realized how much Alice still has to teach us. Through curiosity, slowing down, difference, imagination, and growth, I found reflections of motherhood, healing, and becoming — lessons tucked inside the golden light of an ordinary day.

  • 🌿 The Lives That Built Me – Grace in the Grit

    I rebuilt from rock bottom, not because life got easier, but because I learned to make peace with the life I can live. That’s grace in the grit: surviving, rebuilding, and loving every version of me that made it here.

  • 🌿 Life Is About Experiencing Moments

    🌿 Life Is About Experiencing Moments

    There was a time I thought life was measured in milestones like graduations, promotions, birthdays, and the next big thing on the calendar. Then one day I woke up sick and never got well. Chronic illness has a way of stripping life down to its bones. It slows everything until you can’t help but notice…

  • Alzheimer’s Caregiver Grief: How Families Experience Love and Loss Before Goodbye

    I lost my mother to Alzheimer’s disease in the summer of 2020 after an eight-year journey into loss. Her death brought acute sadness but also relief, not just for our family, but for my mom, who hadn’t been fully herself in quite some time. Because of our family’s faith, we had the comfort of knowing…