Hey Barrett here. I found this lovely picture of Bridge and wanted to share it with all of you. This is how I remember her – loving fall, fresh faced and ready to take on the world. This was taken a few months after we had moved to Portland in 2008. As many of you [...]

Hello Everyone, Barrett here. I can’t believe it has been two months since Bridget’s passing. I wanted to share with all of you a draft blog post Bridget had in cue. She started this when we first moved to Portland. She kept all her thoughts and drafts handy and would repurpose them as needed and as [...]

Hello Everyone, This is Barrett, Bridget’s husband. Over the weekend we had a celebration of Bridget in Portland. It was a wonderful day and was an event Bridget would have loved. Friends and family flew in or even drove fifteen hours to celebrate Bridget. It was so nice to see everyone. Thank you to all [...]

Hello Friends and Family, This is Barrett, Bridget’s husband & former covivant of sixteen years. Over the past few years Bridget and I have known we have support from friends and family, but I am consistantly amazed and astonished how generous and caring you all truly are. Thank you. I am delighted to share this post [...]

Hello Friends and Family, This is Barrett, Bridget’s husband & former covivant of sixteen years. Thank you all for sharing your kind thoughts and memories about Bridget. I wanted to share with you that we’re planning two events to celebrate Bridget. The first will be here in Portland, Oregon and the second will be in [...]

I wouldn’t do it if the payoff weren’t so big. Having someone hold a cigar shaped incense-like stick, the tip glowing orange with heat, mere inches from my belly is not high on my Fun Times list. But it’s so worth it. Moxa might sound a little bit like torture, but it’s actually a super [...]

Our next trip to the ER didn’t involve anyone trying to steal my identity, but it did, unfortunately, involve an extended stay in the oncology ward. Booo!! Our bargaining skills just aren’t at their peak at 3 in the morning. Especially unfair was that this time around, I kept hearing how healthy I looked. People [...]

So Saturday I was waiting patiently in line at the ER and when my turn came, I explained how my oncologist had sent me in because my heart was beating fast and erratic like a giant butterfly frantically trying to get out. I guess it was a pretty good story and I looked a bit [...]

I swear we have done all we can to make the end of March go smoothly. On Friday, I even had the suckage procedure done to deal with the ascites (abdominal fluid that sits on top of your organs) so that I could have a super awesome weekend. No more turtle-on-its-back struggling to get up, [...]

In Madison, March is an unbelievably dreary month. Spring is just around the corner, but it might as well be at the opposite end of the calendar. Everything is grey and mucky. Occasionally a clean sweep of snow swoops in, but it turns quickly to mush. I used to get some sort of interesting illness [...]

Since we moved into this house back in October, I’ve been trying to come around to the purple bedroom. I LIKE purple, plus it’s good feng shui and everything. But it made our room so very, very dark. Like living in a cave. A purple Barney cave. Last week, we couldn’t take it anymore. We [...]

When you’re being held hostage at a medical facility such as the ER or the Imaging waiting room, you have a few options. You can spend your time screaming and throwing things at the nurses (a course many patients choose to take) or you can entertain yourself with some hilarious online Time Wasters. Like enjoying [...]

I have clouds on my feet. My new slippers surround each foot with thick, luxurious, magical cush. I put them on and, no matter how tired I’m feeling, I want to squish, squish, squish around the house in them. They don’t have backs on them so I can easily slip them on in the middle [...]

What I’m Not Going to Blog About: —I will not be describing in detail the immense pain in my liver and lymph nodes that has taken over my every waking thought over the past few days OR whining about how miserable and itchy and rashy I am OR sharing interesting metaphors to describe the digestive [...]

Happy St. Bridget’s Day!! Or Happy Day After St. Bridget’s Day, depending on when you observe the holiday. Yesterday we feasted on some St. Bridget’s Day sushi and tonight I think we’ll celebrate with a nice toasty fire. I also wanted to let you know about the launch of E.M. Kokie’s website, Barrett’s latest project. [...]

Ever since I found out that Dumbledore, my oncologist, is moving to retirement the Perfect Nanny song from Mary Poppins has been going through my head. Except instead of “Plays games, all sorts” and “rosy cheeks” it’s switched up a bit. Like “Super smart” and “Doesn’t try to kill me.” I am on board with [...]

I noticed the girl in front of me in line to get on the plane last Monday had green nail polish on. It was kind of a medium, creamy green. I have to admit I was a little jealous—I was just wearing sparkles on my fingernails which suddenly seemed really boring. It wasn’t until Barrett [...]

Last night I had a kitten nightmare. Don’t get me wrong, I love kittens. In fact, I may have even mentioned to Barrett once or twice the cat conversations I’ve overheard Harpo and Pumpkin having about how they were at that point in their relationship that it might be time to adopt a baby kitten. [...]

Usually I wake up to something like this. Or this. But this morning, despite cat noses in the eye, I just couldn’t quite wake up and we’re meeting my dad and Diana in Seattle later to go hear Beethoven’s 9th at Benaroya Hall. Normally, I take a nice leisurely bath to soothe my aching bones, [...]

In this belated edition of My Christmas Present to You, or Bridget’s Guide to Surviving Life & All It’s Bizarreness When You Are Temporarily Health Challenged, we explore feeding your brain. You’re sick. Your brain is mush. You try reading the latest, hottest, most interesting book that everyone is talking about. Then lose track of [...]

Your friends are awesome. When you’re temporarily health challenged, they are even more awesome than usual. They come visit, send you cards and presents, make you cupcakes, volunteer to cat-sit, and maybe even help you raise money to cover your medical expenses. But the thing is, when you’re sick, you sort of just want to [...]

Over the past couple of years of living with cancer, I’ve actually learned some things (I was surprised by this too) and I realized that it might be helpful to share them. I know many of my blog readers are in perfect health, but maybe you can pass these tips along to someone who isn’t. [...]

I would like to interrupt Napping Day for a very special “Thank You!” to everyone who participated in the auction! It was a huge success and we can’t thank everyone who was involved enough. We are overcome with the generosity of our friends and family and the kidlit community. You all seriously, seriously rock! I [...]

My oncologist looks a lot like a less-hairy Dumbledore. If we’re going to fight foes of darkness etc., a Dumbledore lookalike seems like a good guy to have on our Bridget Kicks Cancer team, don’t you think? A team which is currently knocking my socks off–the auction is amazing! I had all of these big [...]

Writers and aspiring writers, if you need a fresh look or even a first look at your work, consider the critique services offered on the auction. I know it’s difficult. So many fabulous writers, how to choose??? Don’t overlook less published writers. I don’t know all of their work, but the ones that I am [...]