I still feel an incipient headache, so I'm going to eat a handful of coconut chocolate almonds

Are those almonds effective prevention against headaches? I should test them. FOR SCIENCE.

Tomorrow my baby turns 21. I have a box of 21 mini's wrapped individually in very colorful tissue paper. There are streamers ALL OVER the house, including a cross-weaving of them over his bedroom door. He is currently out with his girlfriend.

Kelly is coming over at midnight so we can officially toast the start of his birthday. Later we are taking him on a distillery tour and a brewery tour and we are trying to get tickets to see Arsenio Hall.

His main prezzie - is a 30 minute canyon drive in a Lamborghini Gallardo - in September.

Sadly, no. But they are fricking delish. eta that was to Steph

Happy 21, CJ!

Is "21 minis" 21 mini bottles of booze? Because that's AWESOME.

smonster, I should test the almonds anyway. FOR SCIENCE.

It is, Steph. I sent Kelly a care package for her 21st and CJ has been hinting that he wanted something similar. His isn't as elaborate because I DO get to take him out.

He got home a bit ago and squiggled under the crepe paper blocking his door. Pictures are on FB. It was hilarious.

Therapy is totally bullshit, and fuck all that self awareness! But, you know, also keep working.

This. All of it.

Speaking of headaches! I went and saw my wonderful dentist on Tuesday, and when I talked to him about my (never-ending, just changing intensity) headaches/migraines, he went "Hmmm", and did some super-painful pressure tests at the base of my skull, my temples, and my jaw. Then he did a terrifyingly painful pressure massage on my jaw muscles which made my migraine go away.

The muscles in all three of those spots are completely locked with tension. Which is something my dentist has dealt with all his life, has the same sort of chronic migraines as me, and treats them with Botox injections in those muscle groups, which gives him four months of no migraines at a time.

Guess what I did today? I am entirely pain-free for the first time in ... I don't actually remember when. I've had some level of daily headache/migraine for years. This is really weird. Fantastic, but weird.

That's wonderful, Jilli!

That's great, Jilli. I'm so glad you've got pain relief.

Also very happy at Sophia's excellent news.

And Scrappy's new house.

I am proud of all of you digging deep into your psyches and doing the hard work of therapy. I know it's difficult and exhausting at times.

Emmett called tonight and we had a long, lovely hour long talk. That mostly consisted of him telling me How Cool His Sister Is. He hasn't really been around since he's been at college so he kind of missed that whole thing where she was becoming a pre-teen. But he got a full dose of her awesomeness at camp and he was really smitten.

Steph, you certainly should. A sample size of two is twice as big as one! Maybe they will work for you. I get them at Costco.

Jilli, I'm so thrilled for you! I wish you many more painfree days.

I will say, after years of crying so much during therapy that my therapist joked about a tissue surcharge, I can now go sessions without crying at all. Clearly we each have our own journey, and i don't think I ever found the process quite so painful as some of y'all, but I have hope that it will get easier.