Binge-reading Review

Your User Guide! (To Binge-Read A Muse4Mama Or Skip To The Parts You Love)

Stephanie Ortiz
What a compilation of two years of musing!

If your hankering for muses about…

A Muse 4 Mama

the buried truth & growing pains of two years of muses

Goodbye Mommyhood, the second muse I ever wrote, is still one of my favorites. This concept of losing motherhood is the reason I started this journey. One reader even called it a tear jerker. But that was the point, to hide behind my sadness. But I tried to lighten things up the following week and wrote about the reaction I got when I randomly gave away $4.

On Becoming – hoping to become real

But then I started speaking in code. I thought it was cool to confuse my reader back then (okay, I was scared.) Of what? Of speaking my truth. But now it’s easy to click away those negative thoughts I had back then. In Incognito Snowman I was really talking about Lin Manuel-Miranda. And in The Terrible Two’s I buried the simple truth and made you read between the lines rather than just tell you I was having a hard time finding myself. The very thing that could make me real, I hid from you.

Review – the bigger picture

making it real

Basketball Legends

the golden days

Kobe Bryant is the fan favorite muse of all time. It set me on a path of researching and writing about my Dad and basketball memories of the golden days. Those muses took an insane amount of time to write (and were really long), but it was so much fun to call my Dad every week and talk about the next muse.

the Air Dare series like MJ never could have told it

I had so much fun with these. I was playing my hand at a little feature reporting with a whole interview from Mr. Erving that I was breaking into pieces. I had the whole series planned out and was saving the best two for last, before cancer struck. But I got this far with it.

Cloud 9 – romance

Meeting Alex on an airplane gave me lots of fun stories to share, and if you want a Rom-Com, the comedy is in A Terrific Toast.

Cows & Udder Matters – an inspirational breast cancer journey

Cancer – catching it

Okay, I said the word. There I go speaking in code again, trying to make you believe cancer and cows are the same thing. This cancer journey can’t just cut to the chase. The first in the series was written way before I even knew I’d get breast cancer. Foreshadowing anyone? And then the cancer games began If these muses could get me through breast cancer, they can help you get through your rough patches, too.

Chemo Daze – losing It

Chemo Afterlife – piecing it together

Just because it ain’t over until the bald lady sings.

losing it some more: mastectomy, oophorectomy, surgery, Oh My!

Losing my boobs, my ovaries and tubes, there’s only one more thing to lose, the port!

Cancer AfterLife – putting It back together again:

Celeb-ringing Life!

When exactly do you celebrate? Any chance you can get!

the power of friendship through it all

Last Laughs:

Mama’s Opinion, for what it’s worth:

What I’m not typically known for, I prefer to fix problems (it’s a problem of mine, really), but I have to throw my opinion around sometimes!

Meaningful Moments – celebrating family:

Road Tripping – going places

In celebration of our two-year Amuse-aversary, we can go back to where it all began. It’s not always wise to start at the beginning, when we’re not quite formed and we have no idea what our girl’s gonna be like when she hits two, let alone 52. My first muse might have been a sleeper, (a fantastical idea poorly executed), but don’t say I didn’t take you road tripping, if that’s what you’re asking for.

Theater – second-hand embarrassment & those who know what they’re doing

Zana & Sky – they show me the way!

In 2019, I naively hoped my muse would help me write through my separation anxiety that the girls are growing up and they’ll be leaving me. Skylar edits for me (hopefully she can do that next year at college?) and luckily I still have four more years for Alexandra to take her awesome photos and videos. But what they love more than anything is to compose music and sing. They started their YouTube channel in the middle of Covid (hence the name Zana and Sky). They write and compose music that reminds me they are meant to be so much more than my daughters. If the muse could get me through cancer, I’m hoping it will get me through this next phase of life. And we’ll keep laughing, now that I’ve learned how, no matter how hard life gets.

6 thoughts on “Your User Guide! (To Binge-Read A Muse4Mama Or Skip To The Parts You Love)”

  1. There were so many great muses you have written over the past two years. So hard to pick my favorite as I am somewhat biased. The ones that get to me are the ones where you let the reader inside of your thoughts and emotions and share the side of you I get to see on a daily basis. You have a ton of talent and I am so excited to see what you do in the next two years! One of my favorites is your “telling the story” of how we met. Every time you tell it you have a way of making it different yet always truthful. As you said you don’t like retelling the stories the same way! Love you and I am ver proud of you!! You are an inspiration to me, the girls and to many others!! Be bold and assertive in 2022!!

    1. Ah, shucks! That’s so sweet! The thing I love most about writing this muse is getting to hear you speak to me now. It’s frame-able! Love you so much!! We’re going great places!! xoxo

    2. HI MR.ORTIZ!! IM A BIG FAN OF YOU AND ZANA AND SKY COULD WE MAYBE SET UP A MEET AND GREET WITH ZANA AND SKY?? :)))))))))))))))))))))))

  2. My dear friend. I don’t have a favorite because there are so many insightful, heartfelt and uplifting posts. I prefer the posts upon your diagnosis, because we all had the opportunity to share your bravery and journey. So inspiring to read your posts and uplifting that, through all you endured, you maintained your zaney sense of humor and soul….although you’ll always be a ‘pseudo-blonde’ to me (remember the rafting trip and losing Holly??LOLOL), you have given me the courage to get through my own tough ride the past 2 years, so thank you! P.S. I told you the hair was going to grow back! 😉 love and light always, Kelley….does this qualify me for the drawing?? :)))))

    1. Dear Kelley, You’re most definitely qualified for the drawing!! (And you have a 50/50 chance of winning with only Alex as your competition). Thanks for sharing your dear words. We have been through so many pseudo-blonde moments and somehow you are still talking to me. I know how blessed I am that you didn’t write me off when I threw you the oar and expected you to climb back up into the raft when you were drowning and then you were my guardian Angel when I first got diagnosed. Oh, how you were there for me! I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t pick me to be on your team, but you would be the first I’d call (every single time) to be on mine!! Love and hugs!! xoxo

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