AspenRealLife is publishing a book based on the content in the blog. The book is about finding love, and retaining that love after children. It’s also about staying true to your dreams. Feedback welcome.
(This chapter was written in a 2017 Aspen Words Summer Workshop taught by Chinelo Okparanta, of whom I absolutely adored!) My body lay horizontally across the bed with my head hanging off the edge. The world felt so upside down at that moment, this was my feeble attempt to turn it all right side up. Glancing away from the yellow water stain on the ceiling that had … Continue reading Chapter Nine: Finding Love in Aspen
Once upon a time there were three princesses, Melanie, Michele and Jillian. Their mother, Queen Nicolette, was adored by all for everything and everybody she encountered opened up like the most beautiful blossoms when hearing her singsong voice that when spoken flowed as sweet as honey and as melodious as a fresh breeze of air blowing through wind chimes made from Mother of Pearl shells. To be near Queen Nicolette was truly a … Continue reading The Three Princesses Chapter One
(This chapter was written in a 2017 Aspen Words Summer Workshop taught by Chinelo Okparanta, of whom I absolutely adored!) My body lay horizontally across the bed with my head hanging off the edge. The world felt so upside down at that moment, this was my feeble attempt to turn it all right side up. Glancing away from the yellow water stain on the ceiling that had … Continue reading Chapter Nine: Meeting Baddy
Chapter Six: Protecting Our Innocence The mornings in my bedroom were the antithesis of the nights; warm, safe and my own haven, where I’d spend oodles of time alone letting my imagination go, dancing wildly to my 45 records, spending time on my CB radio, or playing with the barbie dolls I so wanted to look like. The superficial messages of how to look began early, with barbie dolls. … Continue reading Chapter Six: Protecting Our Innocence
Chapter Five: Three Sisters It is when I am in nature where suddenly a feeling of total elation passes over my being and I recognize what that feeling represents, memories from times in my chidhood where I was completely one with nature as it beckoned me in to play and get lost in my imagination. The memories are of times spent with my sisters, Melanie and Michele, playing in the woods … Continue reading Chapter Five: Three Sisters
Chapter Four: All About Harold My father, Harold Melvin Wernick, was born in 1917 and lived through two wars, as well as the great depression. A tall and sporty man with a shark grin and a mischievous twinkle in his baby blues, he was single into his forties and had a treasure chest filled with photographs telling tales of his bachelor life. From skiing in Switzerland with one gorgeous woman, and sailing in the … Continue reading Chapter Four: All About Harold
Chapter Three: Living in a Fairy Tale My childhood was its own fairytale. Yes, it’s true, I grew up in a fairytale within a fairytale. My two sisters and I grew up in Massachusetts in a white house set up high on a hill. A white picket fence enclosing our mother’s wonderfully British bright and cheery hand-planted gardens. She was always in the garden with … Continue reading Chapter Three: Living in a Fairy Tale
I had to sheepishly apologize to the crew for moving in before they were ready for us. I couldn’t stand to live in our tiny condo anymore. Two years was enough. I agree that living in small areas keeps the family closer together but Im not convinced this was healthy for our particular family. Continue reading Chapter Two: Our Dream House
The first Chapter – Looking Back on AspenRealLife It was summer of 2010 when my eyes opened, slowly focussing in on black storm clouds rolling in, threatening well needed rain. As the shadows were cast over Goldie & Kurt’s ranch land and the elk and packs of coyotes who frequently grazed and played in our backyard, I slid down deeper under our down-filled comforter and rolled on top of my very own electric furnace, digging my nose into his … Continue reading The First Chapter – Looking Back on AspenRealLife
Jillian's Real Life 