The hardest decisions are the ones you make on behalf of someone else

*This post was written during ChicagoNow’s Blogapalooz-Hour for June 2017. During Blogapalooz we are given a prompt and we have one hour to post. This is today’s prompt: “Write about a decision you made that changed the course of your life for better or worse.” DISCLAIMER: this is a post about a decision taken by us. In... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
June 28, 2017 at 10:08 pm • 

About that weight upon the shoulders of special needs parents

  DISCLAIMER: I know that some of the terms that I use and highlight here are controversial, very charged and maybe upsetting. Any other day I would agree with you on that. But today I need those terms to express my feelings accurately. As much as they may hurt.   Sometimes, I almost forget that... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
May 2, 2017 at 8:08 pm • 

I just wore my first Target dress and it rocked!

Since they took a stance in the whole restroom controversy, I have made a point of shopping at Target. I still prefer smaller, independent stores, but now I don’t feel so guilty when I end up shopping there. The fact that they just opened one a block from my house doesn’t hurt either. But I had... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
April 30, 2017 at 4:32 pm • 
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The friend who stays behind

Today I said goodbye to someone who, in the short space of 8 months, has become not only an important part of our family, but also a friend. As it happens almost every time, as I hugged her I felt a mix of happiness, because I know that she is going back to the place... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
April 12, 2017 at 11:38 pm • 

The futon

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, a futon is “a usually cotton-filled mattress used on the floor or in a frame as a bed, couch, or chair”. We all have had one at one point or other in our lives, testament to our college days, to that life of unsettlement that called for temporary furniture... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
April 2, 2017 at 5:00 pm • 

Christmas when you aren't coming home

One of the hardships of being a foreigner is that, sometimes, you have to spend the holidays away from home. I have heard a thousand times that home is where you want it to be, that it is not a place, etc. I even used to repeat that like a mantra. And you know what?... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
December 24, 2016 at 2:24 pm • 
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Of Thanksgiving, globalization and my homemade gnocchi.

*This post was written during ChicagoNow’s Blogapalooz-Hour for November 2016. During Blogapalooz we are given a prompt and we have one hour to post. This is today’s prompt: “ “Write about something you believed as a child or in your youth that turned out not to be true.” Last week, like millions of American families, I hosted... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
November 30, 2016 at 10:09 pm • 

Gravida 8, Live Birth 3: A Story of Miscarriages

Every single time I am seeing by a doctor and they recount my medical history, I have to hear those words: Gravida 8, Live birth 3. Most of you may be wondering what kind of score that is. Only if you have been in my pants will you know that it is possibly the saddest... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
October 27, 2016 at 10:32 pm • 

Why my son's first birthday party invitation became a celebration in itself

If you have kids of school age, chances are that to some extent, you dread birthday parties. Chances are, too, that you attend a fair amount of them, and throw a couple or three a year. As I wrote about our particular birthdaypalooza, I am as guilty as the next mom of throwing them, a... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
September 24, 2016 at 7:50 pm • 
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The non PhD

*This post was written during ChicagoNow’s Blogapalooz-Hour for August 2016. During Blogapalooz we are given a prompt and we have one hour to post. This is today’s prompt: “Write about something in your life you’d like a second chance at” When I was young, like really really young, I always wanted adventurous careers: at 12 I... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
August 31, 2016 at 10:00 pm •