I'm the parent of a teenage girl.

And I'm walking the parenting tightrope, doing the biggest balancing act of my life.

(I don't think that I could have done anything to prepare for this. Even being the parent of a 16-year-old boy hasn't helped.)

If I lean a little too...

My 18th wedding anniversary is in a few months. Well, it would be my 18th if I hadn't gotten divorced.

Instead, 11 years ago, around this time, I was in the painful realm of trying to figure out if I wanted to stay married to my husband, the father of...

I'm afraid of ovarian cancer.

The non-specific symptoms. The sometimes too-lengthy diagnosis time.

The fact that it's called the silent killer.

I've known people who have battled it with all of their being and not succeeded. Good women. Mothers, daughters, sisters and friends who died too young.

Debra Kogan Lyda...

We got to the field for my daughter's flag football practice a little early the other night and she wasn't ready to get out of the car. So I parked and we sat there together and listened to One Direction on my iPhone.

A few minutes before the practice was...

Being a parent is hard.

Being a parent of a 12-1/2-year-old girl is even harder.

My relationship with my daughter these days has a lot of ups and downs in it, more so than with anyone else in my life: her almost-15-year-old brother, my husband, my mother. Even my ex-husband.

There's a lot to lament about divorce and that lamenting lasts long after the papers are signed. First, there's dealing with the immediate failure of your marriage. The feelings of hurt, loss, anger and confusion. The financial details and the logistics of living arrangements.

And if you have young...

My son started high school last month. Which is weird for me because it seems like just yesterday, he was going to kindergarten. The transition to high school, with it's early morning wake-ups and increased amounts of homework, has been pretty smooth. And I think that he, and I, have...

I don't get bent out of shape too often. At the age of 45, having been married, divorced, and re-married, with two teenagers and a pre-teen, not much phases me. Clog the low-flow toilet again, kid? Get the plunger and fix it. Don't like what's being made for dinner? Make...

My son started high school this week. And he's acting like he hasn't got a care in the world, cool as the six jars of homemade jalapeno sauce curing in our refrigerator for 21 days.

Too bad I can't say the same about myself. The past couple of days, I've...

I thought about my old plaid couch the other day.
The one I bought from Rooms to Go, with matching love seat, coffee table and two matching end tables.
All for under $1,000.
Signifying a new phase in life.
Moving in to a new house with...

Have you ever had a moment so pure that you never wanted it to end? I had one the other day. And it's stuck in my head, like that catchy pop tune I keep hearing on the radio that I hated but now I secretly love.

I was running...

It's early Thanksgiving morning.

I can't sleep. Not for any different reason than the usual. Thoughts running rampant in my head, a little excitement. Just how my brain operates.

I'm at my parents' house, sleeping on a pull-out sofa in the den. My son is on the floor next...

If you ask me about my divorce 8 years ago, I'll spare you the details of the sleepless nights, the almost daily crying jags, the worrying about how my kids would be affected and the (welcomed) weight loss.

Chances are I'll tell you about how happy I was once I...

Working out child custody and visitation with your ex-spouse during the holiday season can be one of the hardest parts of the aftermath of a divorce. Not for the faint of heart.

Splitting up your time during the season is hard enough when you're newlyweds. Who gets the couple for...

Oh, my 2 cup Bialetti Coffee Pot, were you lonely hidden way in the back of the cupboard?

I haven't meant to ignore you for the last 4 years. But you see, I was given a single serve Nespresso machine for a wedding gift by some tall foreign people. So...