A Mother Outside the Room

The Shoot

Title: Episode 10: The Shoot Description: After months of surviving courtrooms, exchanges, and silence, I stepped back into the world. I started protesting. I worked with an artisan boutique. And then—I did a photoshoot. Just jeans, a bra, and a jacket. This episode is about what it felt like to be seen again. To reclaim my body. To remember who I was before the losses piled up. It was the night I met Eddie. His motorcycle got stuck in the sand. Me and the girls pushed it out while he stayed seated. I didn’t realize it then, but that moment told me everything. Themes: * Post-separation trauma * Maternal identity * Re-emergence and reclaiming visibility * Emotional labor and early red flags * Female embodiment and truth-telling Content Warning: This episode includes themes of maternal grief, emotional imbalance in early relationships, and the subtle beginnings of control. If that feels too close today, come back when you’re ready. No pressure.

The Shoes by the Door

After the driveway exchange, I didn’t feel strong. I felt broken. In this episode, I talk about what came next—what it looked like to survive the aftermath. The grief that settled into my bones. The rage I never expected. The stories that were told about me while I was fighting every day just to keep going. And the moment I started reclaiming my voice. This story is for every mother who’s been misjudged. For every woman carrying her pain in silence. And for anyone who’s ever had to rebuild from the rubble. Themes: * Post-separation abuse * Maternal grief and trauma * Emotional recovery * Identity and reclaiming power * Family estrangement * Surviving legal and systemic injustice * Turning points in healing Content Warnings: This episode contains sensitive content including references to emotional distress, maternal rage, post-separation abuse, and the grief of losing custody. If you’re not ready to hear those themes today, that’s okay. Come back when you’re ready. No urgency, no shame.

The Driveway Wasn’t Safe

They weren’t even allowed to cry. Sometimes it was their father putting hands on Ash. Sometimes it was their grandmother threatening to send them to their room if they showed any emotion. So I stopped saying goodbye in the driveway. This episode is about the violence of drop-offs, and how I learned to reroute love — how I started pulling over a few blocks away just so we could have a moment to hug, to say hello, to say goodbye. Because the driveway wasn’t safe. But I could still create something that was. It’s also about the road trips, the exhaustion, the music, the Ohio hotel with the water park — and how I mothered in the margins of what was left to me. — In this episode: * Emotional abuse at drop-off * Creating safety through routine and ritual * Road trip traditions: hotel stops, goodie bags, and Johnny Cash * Grieving a life you’re still building * Loving children through state lines and silences — Start from Episode 1 to understand the full story. Each chapter builds on the last. Don’t Call Me is written and hosted by Em.

Six Weeks of Sky

There’s a lot I don’t remember from that time. That’s how trauma works — it fogs the details and burns the feelings in sharp. But I remember this: I used my rent money to rent a car. Drove straight to Rochester. Brought my babies home for the summer. And for six weeks, we lived. We swam. We hiked. We drew all over each other with markers. They made friends. They got dirty. We built new traditions. I set up bedrooms for each of them, so they’d know they always had a space — that this was their home, too. I got them into counseling even though I wasn’t “allowed” to. Because I knew what they’d been through. I knew what they were still holding. This episode is about the cost of reclaiming joy, and why even six weeks of freedom can change a life. — In this episode: * Reclaiming motherhood during summer * The trauma of custody exchanges * Loving children through manipulation and grief * Creating joy in the cracks of pain * Counseling as resistance * What it means to give children a sense of home — Start from Episode 1 to follow the full story. Each chapter builds on the last. Don’t Call Me is written and hosted by Em.

A Mother Outside the Room

I was finally in a home that felt peaceful. Coffee on the porch. Open fields. A friend who saw me as human. And still, I was losing my children in real time. This episode is about what it means to be a mother completely shut out — while still very much alive. It’s about decisions made behind my back. My own family working with my ex to enroll my daughter in a private school she wasn’t ready for, letting my five-year-old ride a four-wheeler, ignoring everything I tried to say. They didn’t protect her. They didn’t protect me. They just wanted things to look okay. And I’m still grieving what they did to those kids. — In this episode: * The unraveling of motherhood in plain sight * Family betrayal and emotional abandonment * The grief of watching your children’s needs be ignored * The fight over school enrollment * What people mean when they say “healing takes time” — and what they miss — Start from Episode 1 to understand the full context. This isn’t just my story — it’s the silence so many mothers live inside. Don’t Call Me is written and hosted by Em.