2019 Published Articles by Terri Rimmer

 

 The last time I saw you hangs in the form of a dress on my bedroom door. Dec. 2018 - your high school graduation. The last time I saw your face, spoke to you, if you can call it that, though we didn't really have a conversation because you were (are) still mad at me, justifiably so since I broke your trust - something I swore I would never do. The fucshia dress I wore to your winter graduation still hangs there as a symbol of loss, memories, embarrassment, regret, hope, (your middle name), and hopelessness. I can't put it away for two reasons - my closet in the master bedroom has an underground water leak so there's a horrible damp smell there. And my two closets in the spare room are full. But I don't really want to put it away. Though it has been gathering dust, I keep it there as a reminder of when we last saw each other, that I got to see you graduate from high school after all you went through with your health for sixteen years, when, I believe, God chose to heal

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Aug. 5, 2020 Dear McKenna: On Aug. 15 you'll turn 20 which doesn't seem possible at all, much like everything that has happened this year has seemed that way. When I think and reflect upon the last 20 years and compare them to some of my fellow birth moms who also went through Gladney with me, our stories are different, yet the same. Some went on to have other kids and be single moms, successful, or get married. One went on to get married and have a big family. One got married, had more kids, and sees her kids frequently. Ashley, the one who made your baby blanket you went home in, got married, had a son, and reunited with her birth daughter at Christmas for the first time. As you start your sophomore year of college, I am in awe of who you have become these 20 years.  When I was getting ready to do the same thing, I was attending what is now the University of West Georgia, moving into Downs Hall and my roommate was this polished girl named Robin. My friends and I in the dorm u

Every day since 1992 has been a fight for air, something so many people take for granted, including some of my former friends who I have lost due to not understanding my chronic condition. They don't understand that me being hospitalized nine times for asthma since 1992 means I can't be around smokers, not because I'm a snob, but because it's life or death. This fight to breathe is an every day thing for me and I always have to worry if I'll have enough money to get my inhalers, which has been going on since my 20s. I was officially diagnosed with asthma at 26 close to my first hospitalization but I was suffering from it at age 12 and actually I found out recently that my disease goes back as far as age three when my mom used to put Vapor Rub on me to help me breathe. The only people who know the terror of the possibility of running out of  your inhaler or the panic of getting your nebulizer hooked up in time are those who suffer from asthma and other lung

By Terri Rimmer I managed to stay sober almost seven years, my original sobriety date being Oct. 20, 1988, thanks in part I think because I moved in with my sober sister who made sure I went to meetings.  I got a job, a sponsor, and connected with women in the program, a lot of whom included my sister's friends. It was a long time before the physical and mental craving for drinking went away. But the first five years of my sobriety were miserable because although I worked some steps, I was still acting out in one of my addictions that I had struggled with while in treatment and I wasn't willing to give it up. This other addiction cost me just as much if not more as my drinking did. I still wouldn't let go of my rage or forgive my parents and I actually loved my anger and being in control. I still struggled with God and I was all about image. I did a lot of sponsor hopping and I thought that since I was popular at my home group that was all that mattered. I put

By Terri Rimmer In the fall of 1985 I started my sophomore year of college and then my drinking really escalated. The newspaper staff of which I was a part of really took me in . They were big drinkers, as I had said, so I went to all their parties. I was a staff writer and felt included for the first time in my life. I was still having problems with a new roommate but it didn't matter what all the problems I was having with my family, roommate; etc. because I could blot it all out with alcohol. My friends in the dorm and I would make strawberry daquiris, watch "Saturday Night Live" and play Trivial Pursuit sometimes on the weekends and go steal food. I had no moral compass. My mom and step dad would never let me come home on the weekends like all the other classmates' parents did and to numb that pain I would drink. I got more and more submerged with the newspaper staff and their drinking lifestyle that I lost myself completely. It became my whole identity

By Terri Rimmer My sobriety date this time around is Dec. 8, 1995. I grew up in an alcoholic, abusive home and alcoholism's roots run deep on my mother's side of the family, causing much tragedy. From the time I was a kid I remember being anxious, not fitting in, feeling like a misfit. I was bullied all through school and I thank God for my big sister, Cindy who pretty much raised me from the time I was eight when our mom took off to live with her boyfriend who would later become our step dad. Our dad was there but worked a lot of hours and abused us.  After our parents' divorce when I was eight, Cindy and I briefly attended Smyrna Church of Christ and went to their Bible camp for four years in the summer which I have fond memories of. Though we had attended the Catholic church as kids sporadically, my dad having grown up in the faith, I was afraid of God and I remember while attending the Catholic church the priest scared me when he preached about hell an

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/father-apos-day-painful-reminder-221845624.html

https://www.miraclebabies.org.au/families/family-stories/37-weeks-and-over/mckenna/?fbclid=IwAR0v_6S2WTztBpwYOx-uffinYWEdBLgOZk3Qjtd6kOQUGSS1tvSmYs1SLjQ

https://thriveglobal.com/stories/my-experience-with-research-studies/

Terri Rimmer has 36 years of journalism experience, having worked for ten newspapers and some magazines. She wrote for associatedcontent.com, later bought out by Yahoo Voices from 2005-2012. Ms. Rimmer published her e-book "MacKenzie's Hope" on booklocker.com under the family heading. In August 2020 her columns "When Labor Day is a Painful Reminder" and "20 Years" were both featured by Thrive Global. On Feb. 20, 2020, her editorial "My Experience with Research Studies" was published by Thrive Global." In Jan. 2020, her column, "51 to 15" was published by Thrive Global as well as her column "How College Has Changed Since the 1980s." On April 29, 2019 her editorial “What It’s Like to Be a Former Juvenile Delinquent” was published by Yahoo which was also distributed by The Mighty. On March 4, 2019 her editorial “When Depression Robs You of Your Teeth” was published by Yahoo and The Mighty. On June 17, 2018, her column “W