The beginning -
I'm a scorpio born in the suburbs of Kansas City, and raised by a car mechanic comic and a librarian rebel. I checked out a million books from our local library and was in every school play front and center. I was once Prometheus in a bed sheet toga chained to a garbage bag rock. It was pretty punk for elementary school.
I spent my summers at the pool everyday between swim team practice and ifeguarding. My mother was constantly gardening in all seasons (she was a farmers daughter) and my dad fixed his friends' and families' cars in our driveway for extra money.
And we went to church every sunday. Unfortunately that church was a large evangelical, charismatic non-denominational church that did a lot of damage to a deeply feeling, highly sensitive kiddo, such as myself.
The middle -
I graduated from Emporia State University and decided I only liked half of what teaching entailed, so I left the theatre teaching to my partner and went on a long journey to find what I really wanted to be doing. (My partner is still a high school theatre teacher, and I think they might be the best teacher ever.)
After some more school - and then a wonderful experience learning trauma touch therapy, I realized I wanted to work in the mental health field. After considering several options, I made it to a drama therapy conference in Manhattan, Kansas, and I was sold immediately. Marrying my theatre kid self with helping other people and adding what I knew of somatic therapies - it was absolutely what I should be doing. So I went back to school and received my Master of Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Drama Therapy from Kansas State University.
Oh - and also I made a human!
The now-
In August of 2023, my mother was diagnosed with Colon Cancer. The day after we learned that, my father was diagnosed with alzhiemers disease. And everything went downhill from there.
My mother got one round of chemo before it was revealed her abdomen was so full of cancer, there was nothing that could be done. She was transferred from the hospital to a Hospice House where she lived the remaining six weeks of her life, and I was with her everyday until the end.
My father wanted nothing to do with this world after mom left, and I don't blame him one bit. He died nine and a half months after my mother, slowly losing himself and all of us in the process. If eternal sunshine of the spotless mind was a true story - I would erase every memory of 'dementia dad' from my brain.
I went from fully involved, loving, supportive parents to orphan in one year. I often tell people that I feel like I have changed so much I should look physically different. There's Emily before, and then Emily after.
And then in May of 2025, my legs went numb and I got diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. But that's another story still unfoldng.