Joyful Miles Blog

It is not secret that Rhiannon and I are avid television and movie watchers. I don't know if you know what it is like to watch shows with someone who has a dramaturgical brain, but there is a lot of dissecting that happens. We break everything down. We ask the questions of why did they do this or what could have possibly influenced that choice. At the beginning of the summer, Rhiannon and I decided that we wanted to watch through Mariska Hargitay's filmography. The first movi

This past week, I had a friend come over and watch My Mom Jayne with me. This was her first time seeing it and my 4th. Each time I have watched this documentary, I have gained a deeper understanding about family and the roles we all play within our families. The first time I watched the documentary, I was watching it because Mariska Hargitay directed it and I thought it was just going to be about her life. The second time I turned it on, was when I was really struggling with

Wow! I cannot believe that June is over! This month went by in the blink of an eye. We are now halfway through this year and we still have several big moments coming up, and a few surprises. So lets jump right in to what we got into in June. Last month we: Spent the first week of the month in NYC. Met Mariska Hargitay Saw the entire SVU (except Ice T) cast in person. Saw Lea Michele on Broadway Walked so many miles in New York City. Walked the Brooklyn Bridge Went to Madison

Okay. It is time. I have had 2 weeks to process this, at least I think I have. March 30th I woke up to an article that Rhiannon sent me telling me that Mariska Hargitay was going to Broadway. Once I realized that it wasn't fake news, I began crying. I didn't stop crying until I was in the Hudson Theatre 65 days later. I couldn't watch SVU without crying over the fact that I was going to be in the same room with her, and that sucked because we were still in the middle of a ne

Before we get into this blog, I would like to take a moment to say GO KNICKS!!!! This whole season has been a whirlwind. I am so proud to be a Knicks fan. I am so proud of these men! They were definitely the underdogs going into the playoffs, but they stayed strong and dedicated and last night became the NBA Champions! Anyway, on to the blog! I have loved New York City for as long as I can remember. I have also been obsessed with big bridges for longer than that. So when I fo

This week was probably one of the best weeks that I have ever experienced. When Rhiannon and I met, we were hellbent that we would be moving to New York City and living our best lives working in theatre. Our first trip to New York City was in 2018. It was a magical trip. I proposed on that trip. We also realized that we didn't want to actually live in New York, we were worried it would lose it's magic. Instead we made a pact to return to the city at least once a year. The fol

Hey Hey Hey! It's the end of May and let me tell you, it has been one hell of a month! Let's jump right into it! First, a check in on the walking journey! I officially registered for my first 5k. It will be in October and I am feeling pretty good about it (ask me after we get back from NYC if I still feel this way. lol). If you would like to join my team (we also have a virtual option), check out www.foreverhomerun.com. You can register there, my team is called "Joyful Heart:

I have always been a dreamer. Big, elaborate dreams. Growing up, my friends had dreams to be teachers, lawyers, doctors...then there was me. I wanted to be a record label owner. I wanted to find talent and introduce it to the world. This was a dream of mine for most of my childhood and teenage years. My dad was one of the only people who supported this dream. He would listen to me talk about the music industry non stop. He may have not known how to help me reach that dream, b

These past few weeks have been packed with community theatre shows. Growing up, I loved being in the audience of shows. There was no feeling greater than the moment the lights went down and the actors take you into a new world for just a little while. My first memory of seeing a live performance was Disney's Beauty and the Beast on Ice. I was probably 5 or 6 at the time. I just remember being so impressed with the production. Being transported to the world that I loved so muc

So I have written this blog a few different ways and each time, it doesn't feel right. The first draft was written full of anger. Then I pulled it back a little and made it a mix of anger and sadness. Then I found this passage and it has taken on a new life of it's own. Instead of talking about how I am so angry that estranged adult children are always blamed for stepping away and saving themselves while their parent is praised for being so courageous and strong for continuin

April was such a busy month! It went by super fast. I know the past 2 recaps have talked a lot about the anxiety I was dealing with, but April seemed to be pretty okay. I had a little anxiety near the beginning of the month but as time went on, the anxiety lessened drastically. I am going to say that it is because the sun started shinning more, we had more warm days, and it is now my favorite time of year...Spring. One of the biggest moments of this month came at the very beg

I have been very open about my dive back into fandoms, but I don't think I have talked a lot about how important being in fandoms has been in my life. I joined my first fandom back in 2006. I had just started watching American Idol with my mom and her husband at the time. I instantly gravitated to Paula Abdul. She was warm and kind and very maternal to the contestants, and we all know that I was STARVING for a mother figure. I started finding message boards online. I started

Tomorrow is my 35th birthday. I (along with Rhiannon) am very shocked that I am not dreading it as much as I thought I would. My 23rd birthday was a lot for me. That was the one I freaked out the most with, but I am pretty chill about 35. In fact, I am excited for it. I used to fear aging. I used to say that I would never make it past 50, but these past few months, something has flipped and I am really excited to see how far this life takes me. I had lunch yesterday with a fr

Monday morning, almost as soon as I woke up, Rhiannon sent me an article on Facebook saying that Mariska Hargitay was going to Broadway. I knew April Fools was coming up so I double checked the date and realized this was not a joke. I was immediately overcome with a lot of emotion. I didn't have time to look into anything because I was going right into my therapy appointment. Usually, those appointments go by so fast, but that day it felt like it took forever. To my therapist

So we are going to do this one a little early because next week I have a very exciting blog coming your way! March went by so fast compared to how slow January and February felt. This month was a lot. Rhiannon was gone to a conference for a week. When she got home we had a family tragedy happen down state. My anxiety has not gotten better, if anything I think it has gotten worse this month. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was getting massages to work on my SA trauma. Thing

Last Sunday was the Oscars. The Oscars are our friend Justin's biggest day of the year. We have a party every year, a black tie affair. This year we received swag bags with items that represented some of the biggest movies of the year and we had to guess what movie each item represented. We had bubbles, chicken noodle soup, garlic, a penny, ramen, a Modelo, and a ping pong ball. We also received our ballots in the bag. It is always such a great time trying to fill out these b

Picture it! Saginaw. 71 degrees. In March. Not a cloud in the sky. It was a perfect day! After work, Rhiannon and I decided that it was the perfect day to walk the path by the river behind our house. This is the path that Rhiannon has walked every year with our friend Dani (and her dog, Artemis). I have never been on this path, again, I never walked unless I had to. The route that Rhiannon and Dani take is a little over 3 miles, virtually a 5k. We all know I am not there yet.

February was not what I had wanted it to be when it comes to this journey. I walked on the treadmill a couple of times, but my health anxiety really took a toll on me in February. I started the month off sick with some kind of respiratory infection that took me out for the first two weeks. After I got better, I was terrified to start walking again. I think I walked on the treadmill twice after that. I did, however, start walking outside of the house a little more. As I mentio

Mariska Hargitay Victoria Will https://time.com/collections/women-of-the-year/7377898/mariska-hargitay-interview/ So, I was going to talk about how great it is that the sun is out and it is 50* in Michigan. I was going to talk about going on a walk outside with my wife for the first time since starting this journey. But then we got the news that Mariska Hargitay made TIME's Women of the Year list for 2026 and that shifted everything. I have debated writing about this because

Credit: https://www.instagram.com/p/COSprFNDGAJ/ Well, this day snuck up on me. It is a day I have thought about for the last 4 months, but now that it is here, I have a lot of feelings. As I mentioned, 4 months ago, my mother decided that she was done being my mom. Over the course of 34 years, she has been in and out of my life more times than I can count. I finally reached my breaking point and have decided that no matter what happens, I will not and cannot let her back in.