THE BERBLY PROJECT
So, I’ve Been Thinking…
S T O R I E S • Q U E S T I O N S • O B S E R V A T I O N S
I have a habit of noticing something small, and then thinking about it until it becomes considerably less small.
One question connects to another. A memory wanders in through an open window. Something that seemed completely unrelated suddenly isn’t. Before long, I’m six connections removed from wherever I started, trying to figure out when exactly the original question became an entirely different one.
Sometimes that’s the answer.
More often, however,it ends up being an even better question.
Here are some places my mind’s wandered lately…
The Most Recent Unravelings
Chocolate Milk: The Nervous System’s Liquid Safety Blanket
An essay about grief, chocolate milk, nervous systems, and the strange realization that the people we lose continue living inside the way we move through the world — even after they’re already gone.
Daddy’s Eulogy: Love as Architecture of a Complex System
My dad thought in systems. He rebuilt engines, cleared lanes for his daughters, and fixed everything in front of him for as long as his hands and his mind would let him. When brain cancer became the one problem he couldn’t solve, I learned that loving someone through their unraveling isn’t about fixing what’s broken. It’s about showing up, paying attention, and putting the ChapStick on the table. This is the story of who he was — and who I became because of him.
The Anatomy of Anticipatory Grief (Part I): “All the World’s a Stage…”
Anticipatory grief exists in the space between awareness and outcome, where cognition recognizes what emotion is still learning to hold.
This piece explores how awareness reshapes perception before circumstances change, and how the present can begin to feel like memory while it is still unfolding.
Season of Independence: The Year of the Black Chicken
A true story about leaving a toxic relationship, a dating app discovery, and the night that ended in a trailer full of black chickens in Allentown.
Memoirs of a Bra Specialist
A reflective personal essay about working as a bra specialist at Victoria’s Secret, navigating divorce and self-reliance, and discovering how helping women reclaim confidence shaped a journey of reinvention, leadership, and identity.
What Happened in Vegas: Two Long Islands & a “Broken” Blackjack Machine
What started as a girls’ trip to Las Vegas turned into a reminder that the best experiences aren’t always the ones you plan. It’s a story about friendship, perspective, and choosing to make time for life instead of waiting for life to happen.
Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys
Dear Dad… this one’s for you. For the texts that rerouted my mornings, the jokes you told that we couldn’t stop ourselves from laughing at, and the quiet strength you never named out loud, but lived through your actions every day. Thank you for teaching me to build a strength within myself that doesn’t fold, no matter how fierce the storm when it rolls in.
The Day it Rained in the Kitchen: Opening the Blinds
A personal essay about how context shapes reality, exploring communication, emotional awareness, and the unexpected moments that reveal how differently we experience the same world.
Backyards and Fences and Boundaries, Oh My!
In the third and final installment of the Backyard Boundaries series, this essay explores emotional boundaries, nervous system awareness, and self-worth through lived experience and the metaphor of backyards and fences.
The Boundary or the Fence: Learning What Came First
An essay about invisible boundaries, childhood memory, and the moment your body knows to stop—long before your mind can explain why.
What a Backyard, a Weedwhacker, and Two Fences Taught Me About Boundaries
A reflective essay on grief, growth, and boundary-setting, told through the quiet lessons of a backyard, two fences, and the slow work of learning what’s worth protecting.
‘Twas the Night Before…
A reflective Christmas poem about childhood memories, changing traditions, and finding a quieter kind of magic in adulthood. A gentle look back at what the holidays used to feel like… and how the echoes of that warmth still shape who we are now.
Cast as the Villain: How Language Constraints Collapse Complex Feelings into Simple Accusations
A reflective essay on how complex feelings are often misinterpreted when language lags behind experience—and how being misunderstood can turn thoughtful people into unintended villains.
The Ladder
A surreal descent into a recurring dreamscape, The Ladder unravels memory, identity, and the shadows we carry—inviting readers into a world where nothing reflects back and survival is as much of a choice as it is a climb.
The “Knowledge is Power” Trap: Fuel That Starts the Engine
When “knowledge is power” isn’t enough, understanding becomes the salt that brings it to life—the fuel that turns information into movement, growth, and self-trust.
When the Boat Sinks: The Anatomy of Survival & the Currents That Reshape Us
A reflective, ocean-deep exploration of love, capacity, emotional survival, and the courage to clear space for aligned connection. A standalone piece on growth.
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