The Woman Behind Dear Jennie

Welcome! Come in, sit down and stay a while! Would you like some coffee, or do you prefer tea? I’ll put up a pot (or two) because this may be a little while!

I didn’t just want to create another blog! I needed to create a place that was all my own. A space where I can truly express my heart and allow my Soul to speak!

No, this isn’t just another blog! It’s a conversation, a remembering, and in many ways, a return.

Dear Jennie is where I write about my story. My memories, my healing, and the pieces of myself I now look back on with love, compassion, gratitude, and understanding.

It’s about the little girl at six, at eight, and the magical age of ten. The teenager at thirteen, 15, and 17. The young mother, the divorced, single mom, and the remarried woman. The woman learning how to survive, the woman who broke only to rebuild and climb her way back. And the woman now, at almost fifty-six, learning how to truly live and everything in between.

Every stage, every heartbreak, every lesson, every beginning again, those moments shaped the woman I am today.

I grew up in a world touched deeply by addiction, abuse, codependency, and people-pleasing. I was born into it, and in many ways, I spent years trying to survive it until I learned how to let go, and heal from it.

Addiction shaped so much of my life. From my childhood home to my son’s addiction, to the patterns I carried into love, motherhood, and the way I learned to see myself.

There was divorce. Loneliness. Body image struggles. Starting over more than once. Learning how to let go. Learning how to stay.

But this space is not just about survival.

It is about healing. My journey Home back to myself. My journey to becoming Whole, only to realize that I have always been Whole. I just needed to pick up those broken pieces, and learn to leave what pieces aren’t meant to be “fixed”.

It is about learning to look at every version of Jennie with empathy instead of judgment. It is about honoring the woman I was while becoming the woman I am still becoming.

Why Dear Jennie?

Because that little girl deserved to be seen.

That teenager deserved to be understood.

That young mother deserved compassion.

And the woman writing these words deserves peace.

These letters are for all of her.

I write from a place of peace now. Messy imperfection, but mostly from a place of true inner peace.

I am still learning, still growing, still reinventing myself. But for the first time in my life, I am learning to love myself with honesty and grace.

I hope when someone reads my words, they feel seen.

I hope they feel less alone.

I hope they remember that beneath all of our broken pieces, there is still love, resilience, and a strength we often forget we carry.

Outside of the hard things, I love coffee, ocean air, and slow mornings. I loved living in Arizona for eight years. The desert carries it’s own kind of magic.

I’m truly a vintage soul at heart. Holly Hobbie, Winnie the Pooh, faded denim, and all things that feel like home. I’m an 80s rock girl forever. A die-hard Bon Jovi fan!

Music is my therapy. Nutrition is my passion. Slow living is sacred.

And above all, I am learning this:

I am loved. And so are you!

Welcome to Dear Jennie.