I said YES!*
*to an exciting new project! If you do one thing today, follow Love Per DM on Instagram! Here's why: I've written a lot about my life...
top of page
Search
- 5 days ago
- 2 min
I have done some things
Lately I've been in one of those funks where I struggle to give myself credit. I find myself thinking, "I don't do anything worthwhile,"...
- Nov 18
- 2 min
RIP People-Pleasing Drew
As part of a writing program I’m taking, we were asked to write an obituary to a place or to a former version of ourselves. I opted for...
- Nov 2
- 2 min
Zip it good
Did you know some zippers lock when the pull tab is in the down position? In other words, after zipping, you place the tab down to lock...
- Oct 26
- 2 min
Judge Ramón Alvarado ’05
I type this with tears in my eyes. They’re mostly droplets of gratitude that I had the immense pleasure of spending almost a decade of my...
- Oct 13
- 1 min
What a season!
“What a fun season!” I thought last night as my head hit the pillow. I felt satisfied despite the end of the Braves’ playoff run. But...
- Sep 29
- 2 min
Lessons from a sea turtle
As my mom and I walked along the beach one morning last week, I saw movement a few feet ahead. It was a baby sea turtle—a...
- Sep 8
- 2 min
Bursting bubbles (in a good way)
I'd never heard of H Mart when I met Ramón in 2011, but it soon became an integral part of our relationship. H Mart is a Korean grocery...
- Sep 3
- 2 min
Take that, Labor Day
I spent many Labor Days in the hospital in my early 20s. As the seasons began to change, my lungs would get angry, leading to a cystic...
- Aug 23
- 2 min
I kissed an electric toothbrush last night
Last night I kissed an electric toothbrush as I told it goodbye. Weird, I know. Ramón got the toothbrush a few days before he was...
- Aug 18
- 2 min
Not boarding
“I didn’t leave for the airport before I left for the airport.” Yes, that sentence left my mouth earlier this week. I was on the phone...
- Aug 9
- 2 min
Say NO to the second arrow
I was recently leaving the library like the nerd I am. I always pull out of the parking lot slowly because the visibility isn’t great —...
- Aug 2
- 2 min
Guess who's lucky?
Yesterday I started listening to a book called Conscious Luck by Gay Hendricks and Carol Kline. When I read its subtitle, "Eight Secrets...
- Jul 27
- 2 min
Livin' it up at the Death Café
When I imagine a café, I picture an atmosphere teeming with energy — pleasant smells, bits of conversation and laughter, an overall sense...
- Jul 20
- 1 min
Hopes and dreams
"Got any hopes and dreams for today?" Ramón often asked me this on days we had together with no real obligations. I'd name an errand or a...
- Jul 15
- 3 min
Leaving Lackville
I’d typically try to think of a clever way to start a post like this, but I’ll get right to it: I’m fed up with myself. Over the past...
- Jul 7
- 2 min
ExtravaGranza
As we prepared to eat at a family gathering one afternoon, the power went out. “Let’s all bow our heads,” one of my uncles started. “It’s...
- Jun 26
- 2 min
Oh my cornhole
I sustained an injury at the gym in 2009. I wasn’t doing anything crazy — just changing into workout attire. As I lowered my arm from...
- Jun 9
- 3 min
Field of dreams
Ramón and I took a two-week RV trip in 2018. We'd talked about doing it since we got married, so it was our belated honeymoon in a sense....
- May 16
- 1 min
For the birds
Two brown thrashers built a nest in the camelia outside the sunroom window. For the past few weeks, as I sat at my desk, I watched them...
My name is Drew Dotson, and my life has been anything but perfect, yet it's still perfectly beautiful. After growing up with a genetic disease, cystic fibrosis, I was blessed to meet an amazing man who loved me without bounds. Then he died.
Gallery
bottom of page