Author Archives: gmayeaux

Over two years ago when I started this blog, I wanted to catalog my life as I learned to be the new me – a woman who stepped away from a very demanding professional life to instead live out a women’s fiction novel: happy working part-time at a cool job with a great husband, aContinue reading “Back from the beyond…”

The New York Times had an article today describing the macroeconomics of quiet quitting. It’s point: it may be a somewhat unstoppable train but that it will hurt our economy overall and the general tone was that quiet quitters were hurting all of us. However, somehow buried within this message was a simple fact: withContinue reading “Why I quietly quit.”

Last night we had a frost advisory. Now, with half of a crop still out in the garden, frost advisories usually trigger a scramble to harvest what we can and cover the rest. Last night? Honestly, we were way too tired after an evening of taking care of grass and leaves that we rolled theContinue reading “The lights from the windows…”

I read a title of a NY Times column today about “not wanting an extraordinary life”. I was scrolling, so I can confess to not reading the column, but the title resonated with me. I, too, don’t want an extraordinary life. Instead, I want an uncommon one. Let me explain the difference. An extraordinary life,Continue reading “An Uncommon Life”

Today, I hit the brakes. A plan that started last December, went into “official” impact in July (but I didn’t get the benefit of it) is now complete. I am part-time, both in my heart and soul and on payroll. There’s been a lead up going on around here. I could feel it happening asContinue reading “No longer pretending…”

This is my absolute favorite time of the year. Summer is amazing and it’s bittersweet to see it depart, but I love me some fall. I’ve blogged about this before but it bears repeating: autumn is amazing. Now, there’s lots of stuff to love about autumn. First, the garden comes in and it’s just aContinue reading “Autumn’s Gold”

In our family, there is a debate amongst the Pumpkin Pams and the Margarita Marys. Practically speaking, you are deemed “not cool” if you are a Pumpkin Pam. Now, truth be told, the majority of my family lives on or near a lake. In the northeast, summers on the lake are out of this world.Continue reading “Pumpkin Pams vs. Margarita Marys”

Lately, life got out of control. The end of summer was not nearly what I had planned for. In fact, I often wonder how my best laid plans – such a skillset for my professional life – manage to go so seriously awry in real life. But, scratching summer off of my list, I’m nowContinue reading “The struggle is real.”

I’m not even sure where to start. The end of July blew up my world and August was less about putting it back together than just trying to tread water and doing it unsuccessfully. September? Hmm… I’m so far behind that I just can’t tell. So, let’s start with where I am. Currently, there’s aboutContinue reading “So far behind…”

Ten days ago, I had a conversation with my sister. We have a family member with a serious health issue and I was reciting new statistics I had found on my scholarly literature search of research studies. As I finished, her reaction wasn’t nearly as excited as I was expecting. Instead, it seemed to stressContinue reading “Choosing hope.”