The Only Child Diaries Podcast

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Your house can tell the truth about your family in a way conversations never did. I’ve been thinking a lot about grief lately, and about that surprising idea that you can still learn who someone was after they’ve passed away. Living in my parents’ home has made that real for me, not through big dramatic revelations, but through everyday evidence: what got kept, what never got finished, and what “clean” meant in our family.

I also get honest about housekeeping, clutter, and why “just clean the house” is never just that. My...

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A tiny bruise on a foot doesn’t sound like a life-altering moment, but when circulation is compromised it can become the start of a medical crisis. I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m sharing a raw update on my husband Bill’s condition, picking up after our emergency department trip and walking you through what happened next as doctors raced to restore blood flow to his leg.

You’ll hear what it’s like to chase an appointment with an overbooked vascular surgeon, why we ended up pushing for answers through the...

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A hospital hallway is not where anyone expects to spend their day, yet for so many families it has become the new waiting room, the new patient room, and the new backdrop for life-changing news. I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m sharing a raw snippet from a difficult week as my husband lands back in the hospital, forcing us to make fast decisions, push for the right specialist, and walk straight back into the emotional grind of the emergency room.

You’ll hear what it’s like when an ER experien...

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A nine foot T Rex skeleton looks amazing in a Halloween yard display until you are halfway inside its ribcage, trying to connect tiny wires with sore thumbs, and realizing your “I’ve got this” attitude has officially gone too far. We’re telling the full story of how our latest outdoor Halloween decoration turned into a sweaty DIY adventure, plus the neighbor text that saved the day.

We also get real about the only child streak behind it all: the drive to finish a project alone, the pride that comes with it...

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Fifth year of the Only Child Diaries, and life still doesn’t hand out instructions. I’m checking in from the middle of a packed season where caregiving, health appointments, and constant time pressure are all competing for the same tiny slice of energy and focus.

One bright spot I refuse to give up is Halloween decorating. I’m talking front-lawn chaos, hauling bins out of the garage, putting up our signature headless horseman, and getting humbled by a new animatronic velociraptor skeleton that looked “easy” until it absolutely wasn’t. The best par...

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Your phone rings and a calm voice says your cable is getting cut off today. They sound professional, they drop a specific dollar amount, and they act like this happens all the time. That’s exactly why scam calls work and why we wanted to talk about them out loud, with real examples and real red flags you can use immediately.

I’m Tracy Wallace, and I break down the spam and fraud calls that show up on a predictable schedule: “debt relief” robocalls that mimic a real person, IRS debt scams th...

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An 8 out of 10 tooth pain will humble you fast. I woke up in the middle of the night with pain shooting through my head, tried Motrin and Orajel, and realized I had to call my dentist the second the office opened. What followed was the kind of adult problem nobody trains you for: making a scary medical decision while you’re anxious, sleep-deprived, and hurting, then walking into the appointment alone because life logistics do not pause for panic.

I tell the full story behind my dental anxiety and why it st...

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Has it really been nine years?  September 7, 2017 is a date I still feel in my body. My husband and I were rear-ended by a drunk driver in Las Vegas, and what should have been a simple vacation moment turned into a dramatic, pivotal memory that never really lets go. I’m re-releasing this story again because “drunk driving” can sound like an abstract warning until it becomes your life, your car, your marriage, your recovery, and your sense of safety.

I talk through why this crash matters years later, and why I belie...

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The first cardiology follow-up after a long hospitalization sounds like a simple box to check, until you’re the one figuring out the wheelchair, the car transfer, the heat, the fatigue, and the portable oxygen all at once. I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m sharing a candid update on taking my husband, Bill, to his first cardiologist visit after 58 days in the hospital and what that “one appointment” really costs in planning, energy, and nerves. 

We talk through the curveballs that come with post-discharge care: why the earliest follow-up was a phone cal...

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A house can turn into a mini hospital overnight, and nobody warns you how loud adulthood can get. Between the heat, the air conditioner, and an oxygen concentrator running in the background, I’m trying to sleep while my husband recovers at home and medical equipment takes over our normal routines. Then our dog, Brownie, does something she’s never done before: a strange, short bark at three or four in the morning that won’t stop.

At first I’m irritated, because when you’re exhausted, every sound feels personal. But that b...

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They tell you “He’s going home today,” and your whole body finally exhales. Then the plan changes. Then it changes again. I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m sharing what it actually took to get Bill home after 58 days in the hospital, including the oxygen delivery that didn’t happen when we needed it, the new hospitalist who wanted to play it safe, and the tense moment when I had to be the one to deliver the news that he wasn’t leaving yet.

Once the discharge finally stuck, we stepped into a...

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A stent can sound straightforward until kidney function enters the chat. I’m sharing a real-time update from day 56 of my husband’s hospital journey, where a nuclear stress test and an abnormal EKG point to heart narrowings that may benefit from stents, but fragile kidneys make the “next obvious step” feel anything but obvious.

We talk through what the doctors found, why a treadmill stress test wasn’t possible due to fluid retention, and how treatments like a heparin drip and Lasix fit into the bigger picture alongside lingering blood clot conce...

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Day 45 hits like a trap door: just when Bill seems to be recovering from pneumonia, the swelling returns and an ultrasound reveals a blood clot. I walk you through what it’s like to be the spouse in the chair next to the bed, trying to catch doctors during rounds, translate medical options in real time, and keep a clear head while the plan keeps shifting. We talk thoracentesis, fluid balance, clot risk, and why a single new diagnosis can change everything about a hospital stay.

Then the diabetes piece explodes in...

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Day 40 in the hospital is not a milestone you celebrate, it’s a line you cross and realize you’ve been living in a completely different world. I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m sharing a candid update on my husband’s hospitalization, including his return to the ICU after diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), and the ongoing push to clear pneumonia that keeps making breathing harder than it should be. If you’ve ever felt like you’re learning adulthood and caregiving without a manual, this one will hit close to home. 

I walk through...

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I walked into the hospital already shaken, and within hours I was standing at an ICU desk hyperventilating because Bill had been sedated and intubated. That’s the kind of week we’re talking about here the moment when “he’s getting stronger in rehab” turns into oxygen alarms, pneumonia, and decisions you never want to make without your person fully awake. 

I take you through the timeline: the early hope of discharge, the sudden breathing crash, the move from the rehab unit to a regular hospital room, and the call that change...

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Day 20 hits different when the hospital stay turns into a full-on relocation. Bill is finally recovering and we even have a discharge date, but getting from hospital number two to hospital number three (acute rehab) becomes a four-hour marathon of paperwork, waiting, traffic, valet check-in, and one very humbling reality: we look like a hot mess. I’m talking bracelets still on, an IV wrap, Snoopy pajama bottoms, vascular boots, a duffel bag stuffed with clothes, and me trying to keep it together while we roll through a building that feels way too bi...

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A 60/40 blood pressure reading at 11 pm is the kind of number that makes your whole world go quiet. I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m sharing a very real update on why there was no episode last week: my husband landed in the hospital after a string of scary episodes that looked and sounded like a stroke. He was slurring his speech, not making sense, and completely unlike himself and I had to make calls fast while he resisted going to the ER.

I walk you through how I tried to rule...

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Sports are everywhere, and somehow we’re all expected to have strong opinions, favorite teams, and the stamina to watch a three-hour game on a weeknight. We’re not doing that. We’re getting honest about what it’s like to be a casual sports fan, why some games feel impossible to sit through, and how you can still enjoy the culture without forcing yourself into someone else’s version of fandom.

We talk football from the perspective of someone who loves a big moment but struggles with the slow buildup, then shift...

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The part nobody warns you about after a big fundraising event is the second job you inherit the next morning: follow-up. I’m coming off a major work push and trying to climb out of the backlog with unpaid silent auction items, pledge drive confusion, and the urgent need to get revenue in before the fiscal year closes. If you’ve ever stared at your to-do list and thought, “How is this still my problem ten days later,” you’ll feel seen. 

I break down the real mechanics of nonprofit event planning an...

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If you’ve ever hit the finish line of a huge work project and immediately felt your body power down, you’ll recognize this one. I’m fresh off a major nonprofit fundraising event I led at my agency, and I’m talking candidly about what it means to work hard, work too hard, and then deal with the adrenaline crash that comes after the applause fades. When you’re a perfectionist with high standards, it’s easy to believe you’re supposed to carry every outcome on your shoulders, even the parts you couldn’t c...

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“I’m too busy” is the easiest line to say and one of the hardest to hear when you’re the one waiting on a reply. I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m coming to you from a week where busy isn’t a vibe, it’s a fundraiser deadline, a mountain of details, and the reality of doing more without the administrative backup you wish you had.

I talk through what “busy” looks like inside nonprofit event planning, remote work, and limited staff capacity, then I get into the part that really stings...

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Your pride can be louder than your problems, and sometimes it’s the real thing keeping you stuck. I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m sharing a very real adulting moment from my own house: my husband’s hearing got worse, a hearing test confirmed hearing loss, and suddenly we had to face the next step. Not just the technology, but the feelings that come with it, the quiet denial, the worry about what it “means,” and the resistance that shows up as heavy sighs and stubborn silence.

What happens next surprised me...

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My cat isn’t “needy” in the cute way. He’s the kind of bonded that makes you rethink your whole schedule. I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m telling the story of Bubby, my not-so-cuddly rescue cat who somehow became my shadow, my routine, and yes, one of my most codependent relationships.

Bubby shows up at our barn like a lot of barn cats do, half-mystery and fully scrappy, collecting names from everyone who feeds him. Over time, he picks me. Eventually, after my elderly bunny Holly passes away, my husband Bill...

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Free time is supposed to feel like relief, so why does it so often feel like another problem to solve? I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m talking honestly about what happens when work takes up your energy, not just your hours, and you reach the end of the day with nothing left for the life you’re trying to build. If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t “use your weekend better,” this conversation is for you.

I dig into the real texture of downtime: the one full day off, the menta...

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Your neighborhood tells the truth, even when nobody says a word. On a simple walk around my block, I start noticing the full range of “home life on display” we all live with: the perfect place that looks untouched, the normal houses with leggy plants and brown patches, the flower bed that needs attention. Whether you’re in a single-family home, a condo, or an apartment, the patterns are weirdly universal and they say a lot about time, money, energy, and how hard adulting can be when you feel like you never got the ho...

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One burnt piece of sourdough can teach you more about adulting than a stack of self-help books. I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m trying something small but surprisingly hard: cooking at home just one night a week instead of defaulting to DoorDash and Grubhub.

We’ve been homebodies lately between recovery, health needs, and the simple convenience of streaming and staying in. So ordering delivery has become our nightly routine and it’s easy to ignore the real cost until you finally do the math. I talk through that moment of “wait...

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Two weeks. One missing document. A login process that somehow requires a selfie, a scanned ID, and a phone number the system insists is “linked” to you in a very specific way. I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m taking you along for a painfully real tax-season quest: getting my husband’s Social Security statement so we can finish our taxes without punting everything to a tax extension.

Along the way, I break down what it actually feels like to set up a my Social Security online account right now, including the new id...

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Easter can be sacred, sentimental, or just plain sweet and I’ve felt all three at different times. I’m sharing the kind of memories that stick: going to church as a kid, the odd tradition of buying Easter lilies, and the absolute thrill of waking up to an Easter basket left by the “Easter Bunny” after I set out carrots on the washing machine. With adult eyes, I also can’t ignore the hilarious logic gaps, like why the carrot was only half-eaten. 

From there, I get into the real heart of my...

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Spring hits, and suddenly it seems like everything blooms at once. I’m talking about the kind of spring gardening that feels like a reset: wandering a gorgeous local plant nursery, getting pulled in by rows of color, and convincing myself I’m only buying one thing before walking out with petunias and violas. Along the way, I admit a very real temptation to shop QVC, including the moment I realized I didn’t even know whether violas were just pansies (spoiler: they’re not).

Then reality shows up in the most pre...

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Your birthday can be your favorite day of the year… until real life shows up with heat, exhaustion, and someone you love struggling to walk. I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m sharing a birthday story that starts with a simple belief: my birthday is MY day. Not a “big production” day, not a “perform happiness for everyone else” day, just a day where I get to choose what matters to me.

That choice gets tested fast. My husband is recovering from herniated discs and working hard in physical therapy, so we try a gentl...

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Life has a way of crowding out the basics, until your body forces the issue. I’m sharing what the last several months have really looked like for me: supporting a friend through loss, handling the ripple effects at home, and then helping husband Bill through herniated discs, physical therapy and a nerve block while trying to keep my own life moving. Somewhere in the middle of all that, my own health maintenance started flashing overdue. 

I walk through the real-world logistics of getting preventive care done when you’re short on ti...

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What happens when the clock jumps forward, your diabetic cat needs precision, and a bobcat picks your block for a fly-by? We open up about a week where tiny shifts—sixty minutes, a pawstep on pavement, a chirp from a toilet—reshape everything from pet care to peace of mind. The story starts with daylight savings and the awkward dance of moving Bubbie’s insulin shots without rattling his rhythm. We break down the half-hour step method, why consistency matters for glucose, and how to keep your head when the “old time vs. new time...

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What happens when your best intentions can’t outrun a crowded life? I open up about a week where everything hit at once: a demanding remote job, caregiving my husband, lingering duties after a friend’s loss, and a stack of guest pitches I couldn’t answer fast enough. From the outside it looks like flakiness; on the inside it feels like triage. I talk about the gap between being human and being “on,” and what it costs when we pretend the gap isn’t there.

There’s another layer I’ve avoided: a be...

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What makes the Olympics feel so personal that you end up crying on your couch for athletes you just met two weeks ago? We open up about the real reasons the Games hit the heart: the grind behind those brief highlight packages, the unglamorous math of surgeries and rehab, and the way mental health pressure can rattle even the most prepared minds. This isn’t a sports recap—it’s a look at resilience, belonging, and the quiet support that makes public courage possible.

We trace the arc from catastrophic injuries to imp...

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Ever feel stuck between what absolutely has to get done and the few things you ache to do for yourself? That’s the tightrope we walk this week as I navigate my husband’s pain plan, an onslaught of rain, and a to-do list that keeps multiplying before breakfast. The theme is simple but stubborn: deciding what truly matters when caregiving, home maintenance, and your own body’s limits all demand first place.

We open with a candid update on Bill’s nerve block wearing off, the new medication that’s giving him...

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What do you hold on to when progress backtracks overnight? I open up about living with uncertainty after my husband’s nerve block—celebrating the good PT days, bracing for sudden flares, and learning to treat every pain-free hour like a win. This is a candid look at caregiving, the messy timelines of recovery, and the quiet work of staying hopeful when the medical maze keeps shifting.

We walk through the practical steps and emotional pivots: moving from home PT to a specialized clinic, dealing with illnesses that pushed our schedule back...

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Some weeks feel like a collage: a cough that won’t totally quit, a cat who ignores dinner when the heat rises, a dog who thinks every block is a parade, and a lawn that finally answers back with the thinnest line of green. This conversation sits right in that mix—COVID recovery that’s mostly there but not quite, and the tender work of reclaiming energy, taste, and laughter one small step at a time.

We get candid about what healing actually looks like when it doesn’t follow a clean ar...

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The Covid cough won’t let me laugh yet, and somehow chocolate lost its spell. What in the hell happened to me??? That’s where this story starts: a real-time look at COVID recovery that trades drama for honesty. I talk through the positive test, the decision to get to urgent care quickly, and how Paxlovid likely kept things from getting scary. Then we get into the long haul—chest congestion, a thin appetite, and the strange peace of simple food. Soup, no dairy, low salt, and the slow work of rest have become...

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A scratchy throat, a stubborn cough, and a little denial—then a swab that changed the story. We open up about the week with a confirmed COVID case, the scramble to start Paxlovid, and the practical steps that made each day a little easier. From hydration habits and cough management to why gentle movement beats bed-bound stillness, this is a grounded walkthrough of what recovery really looks like when life refuses to quiet down.

You’ll hear how vaccine timing shaped the experience, what delayed boosters taught us, and how age and...

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Rain soaked Los Angeles, the Rose Parade turned soggy, and my holiday lights kept tripping like they were on a timer from the weather gods—so I used the mess as a nudge to start fresh. I share how a wet week, a sick spouse, and a very determined 14-pound chihuahua pushed me to restart my daily walks, rethink my habits, and listen to what my body and data keep telling me.

We get practical about movement with cranky joints: what helped my feet, how copper socks lowered the barrier to lo...