The Dolly Mama Diaries

I can replay a conversation, reconsider a decision, and examine something from seventeen different angles. By angle eighteen, I’m tired, confused, and no closer to an answer. Maybe we don’t need a ...

Relaxing Shouldn’t Be This Much Work
Why is relaxing without guilt so much work? Before I can read a book or pick up a paintbrush, Judge Joey demands evidence that I’ve earned it. Apparently, happiness needs a permission slip.

I’ve been called stubborn since birth. Sometimes that leads to a shaved head and a pink bow. Other times, it leads to the Dolly Mamas.

When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned: Finding Hope.
I had a plan: marriage, 2.5 kids, a white picket fence, and my own advertising agency. Life looked at that plan and laughed. Now, at almost 63, I’m still figuring it out—one cup of coffee at a time.

The Day Oprah Shut Me Up (It Didn't Last)
I've been told my entire life that I talk too much. I disagree. But there was one moment — live on The Oprah Winfrey Show — when I had absolutely nothing to say. Here's that story, and why I've sto...

The Funny Side of Getting Older: A Dolly Mama Story
My filter isn't broken — it's clogged. A story about inherited humor, a stolen parking spot at Bloomingdale's, and why saying exactly what you think might just be the best perk of getting older.

Turns Out My Dolly Mama Was Right
I drew this Dolly Mama over twenty years ago. Back then I thought she was funny because… well… I was forty-one. Forty-one-year-old me didn't actually have wrinkles. Turns out she wasn't making a jo...

I'm Not Talking to Myself... I'm in a Meeting.
Somewhere between paying bills, raising kids, and remembering passwords, I started having full conversations with myself. Turns out I'm not crazy — I'm just over forty. And honestly? The meetings a...

My Ego Thinks I'm Amazing. My Anxiety Would Like a Word.
I can convince myself I should be running the country — and five minutes later, I apologize to a self-checkout machine. Nobody has it all together. They're just better at hiding the junk drawer.

