Brenda DeWitz Niman, Author

The Bipolar Express

7/3/2014

Mom holding me, and pregnant with #3

It was a hoot to write about our mom’s ability to create magic in Isopods, Jell-O and Chicken Necks. But there's another side to Mom's story. After her third baby was born in four years, postpartum depression and sleep deprivation led to the first of many emotional breakdowns Mom endured throughout her life. She was eventually diagnosed with manic depression—called bipolar illness these days.

Mom was my best customer when I sold 110 boxes of Camp Fire mints to earn a week-long stay at Camp Namanu ...

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"Might as Well" - The Beginning

3/27/2013

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It started out with just wanting a bigger nook. Then we said the three words Dr. Phil says are the worst three words in the world when you put them together: "Might as well." I think I'm far enough along in my PRSR (Post Remodel Sanity Recovery) that I can write about it now…

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"Might as Well" - The Middle

3/27/2013

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At 6:30 am, the concrete truck rumbles down the block. Our next-door-neighbor calls—cajoling, begging, threatening—us to call it off. I peek out the shutters and see her talking to our other neighbors. They're anxious to see what's going to happen. I start to fold. My husband, Mike, stays strong. Of course, he’s on his way to work. We pay extra to get an "emergency" survey done, to double check we’re within our setback...

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"Might as Well" - The End

3/27/2013

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We’re way beyond what’s supposed to be a six-month remodel—Christmas 2006 has come and gone. Our contractor reminds us he's a patient man, but he has his limits. We joke it's a good thing we signed up to be on the 2007 Duniway Holiday Home Tour, a fundraiser for Drew's school. Our contractor's not laughing...

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My First California Adventure

3/16/2013

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Writing about our son's first trip to Disneyland brought back memories of my first trip there. I was eight years old and in third grade. Our dad couldn't get Spring Break off from work, so Mom and Dad took us out of school in February for two weeks—the first and the last time they did that. I missed out on learning long division and it took me a while to recover at school. In fact, it took us all awhile to recover from that vacation.

The six of us rattled down Interstate 5 in our old Ford Fairlane two-door with the embarrassingly loud muffler (and no seatbelts or headrests)...

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The Disney Express

3/11/2013

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After returning from a trip to Disneyland with our sullen teenage son, I couldn’t help but reminisce back to the first time we took him there. Maybe travel is only glamorous in retrospect. Or maybe not even then...
"Whoo-whoooo! All Aboard the Disney Express!”

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California Misadventure (Disney Express Pt 2)

3/11/2013

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Recovering from the Disney Express pretty much shoots Day One of our three day Disneyland pass. We are nothing, however, if not determined. Those of us who can navigate take in the sights from Paradise Pier—the hotel I chose for the entire group over the Disney Hotel (same price) because it sounds so "resortlike" ...

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Holding On and Letting Go

3/11/2013

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More than two hundred years ago Henry Ellis wrote, "All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on."

I have friends who seem to have this down to an art form. They move on almost effortlessly, with nary a glance backward.

For me, the holding on part has always come easy. The letting go, not as much. Like having to let my mom go. Was it really that I didn't think it was her time yet, or would I have ever been ready to let her go? And I’m probably rationalizing when I tell myself it’s hard to let go of our son because we waited what seemed like forever for him. Like letting go of his thick little paw that first day of preschool. Which happened to land on September 11, 2001 ...

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My Arch Enemy (by Midnight)

3/11/2013

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Last summer our son talked me into allowing him to use his life savings to purchase an iPad. My husband was against it. Turns out, he was right (I don't know what I was thinking). But the one who is probably most annoyed with me is Midnight...

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Isopods, Jell-O and Chicken Necks

3/11/2013

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Have you ever had the privilege of being close to someone who has the ability to create magic? I'm not talking about the kind of magic where your uncle pulls a quarter out of your ear, though that's pretty cool too. I'm talking about someone who can take the mundane and turn it into something captivating. Our son's kindergarten teacher had it—I got to witness it first-hand while volunteering in her classroom. Ms. Cheney built excitement for weeks, whispering, "The isopods are coming, the isopods are coming." I didn't know what an isopod was, but I was as anxious to find out as those five-year-olds were...

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Stories — From
the School of Life

The Bipolar Express

"Might as Well" - The Beginning

"Might as Well" - The Middle

"Might as Well" - The End

My First California Adventure

The Disney Express

California Misadventure (Disney Express Pt 2)

Holding On and Letting Go

My Arch Enemy (by Midnight)

Isopods, Jell-O and Chicken Necks

Grandma always said: "Life is a school." I'm sharing a few of the lessons I've learned — mostly the hard way!

Stories — Fromthe School of Life

Grandma always said: "Life is a school." I'm sharing a few of the lessons I've learned — mostly the hard way!

Stories — From
the School of Life