A Thursday check-in from The Den, where honesty gets a chair at the table and everyone belongs.

Content Note: Chronic illness, disability, medical events (including severe headaches), emotional overwhelm, survival language, family reconnection, and gentle grounding.

Welcome to The Den

Welcome to The Crippled Cryptid.

Disability.

Chronic illness.

Service dogs.

Survival without the performance.

If you’re new here, hi.

I’m Sky.

Professional cryptid. Unwilling amateur cyborg.

Writer. Advocate. Human being with a medical chart that reads like a horror anthology.

Most days are lived in a haunted meat suit with a questionable warranty and a long-standing feud with my nervous system.

I cope with sarcasm, snacks, and building something honest in a world that really prefers things to be tidy and inspirational.

This week?

We’re running on blue raspberry electrolytes, Sprite, and Summerween vibes.

Which may as well be a spiritual experience, honestly.

Thursdays are usually quieter around here.

Except today.

Today’s check-in is a little later than usual because it started before sunrise with the Libertyville Farmer’s Market, the Yard Yeti, and a day that ended up becoming one I’ll probably carry with me for a long time.

So…

Come sit with me awhile.

What This Space Is (And Isn’t)

This isn’t a rant.

This isn’t a medical report.

This isn’t a place where we’re expected to wrap everything up with a neat little bow.

This is a check-in.

With me.

With you.

With all of us here in The Den.

Because this space was never meant to be one-sided.

It’s a place to exist together.

To be seen without performing wellness.

Without pretending everything is okay when it isn’t.

No inspiration porn.

No forced positivity.

No gold stars for suffering silently.

Just honesty.

Even when it’s messy.

Even when it’s a little feral around the edges.

If you’ve found your way here for the first time…

Welcome.

Pull up a chair.

We’ve been saving one for you.

Today’s Unexpected Gift

I dropped the Yard Yeti off at the Libertyville Farmer’s Market at five this morning, just like I do every Thursday.

The plan when I came back around noon was simple.

Pick him up.

Grab Luna a few cookies.

Visit our favorite bandana stand.

(She was supposed to get one. She somehow negotiated three.)

Maybe wander through Reach Rescue for a little while before heading home.

Simple plans have a funny habit of becoming unforgettable.

While Luna was introducing herself to one of the rescue dogs, someone nearby asked me if she was a real service dog.

I smiled.

Before I could answer…

Luna answered for me.

She quietly lowered herself onto the gentleman’s feet.

No excitement.

No hesitation.

Just calm, deliberate focus.

I looked at him and asked,

“Do you normally have a high or low heart rate? This is one of the ways she alerts, and my Apple Watch isn’t going off… so I know it isn’t me.”

He looked surprised.

He told me he wasn’t wearing his watch today.

Then he quietly added,

“I usually have a low heart rate. I had cancer treatment yesterday.”

Luna didn’t move.

She stayed with him.

Fifteen…

Maybe twenty minutes.

Never asking for attention.

Never breaking focus.

Just quietly making sure he wasn’t alone.

Someone eventually asked if they could take a picture of the two of them.

Of course, I said yes.

And somewhere between watching this beautiful little blue heeler care for someone she’d never met…

I realized I was tearing up.

People compliment Luna all the time.

They tell me she’s beautiful.

They love her mismatched eyes.

They ask about her sunflower vest.

But watching her quietly do the work she’s been trained to do…

Watching her choose compassion…

That’s different.

That’s when I know.

I did something right.

She stayed with him.

And every few moments, she’d glance back at me.

Checking in.

Making sure I was okay, too.

That balance still amazes me.

Taking care of someone else…

Without ever forgetting her mama.

Yeah.

That’s my girl.

🐾 Luna Note

New human detected.

Medical monitoring initiated.

Pack status: Pending.

Ball throwing evaluation: Also pending.

Snacks remain highly encouraged.

These findings are unrelated.

Probably.

🐾

The Creatures Who Keep Me Here

I spend a lot of time in Bed Jail™.

But I’m rarely alone.

There’s Luna.

Guardian.

Enforcer.

Professional Service Dingo™.

Best Girl™.

Lately she’s been hovering.

Not the “I’d like a snack” kind of hovering.

The focused kind.

The intentional kind.

The kind that sticks close enough to remind me she’s paying attention.

Between Illinois deciding to experience all four seasons before lunch and spending Father’s Day weekend surrounded by family, she’s been operating somewhere around Clinger Mode 3000™.

Honestly?

I can’t blame her.

She’s been right before.

Annoyingly often.

If my dad, my grandfather, or my stepbrother happen to be reading this…

Luna Bean would like you to know that you’ve officially been adopted.

She loved meeting every one of you.

She fully expects you back.

You’re Pack now.

There is no appeals process.

🐾 Luna Note

Pack Expansion Complete.

New humans accepted.

Future ball throwing appointments are expected.

Please plan accordingly.

🐾

Then there’s M&M.

My Player Two.

My soft place to land.

Currently living in her “please sit down before I physically make you sit down” era.

She’s also the maker of the greatest pineapple upside-down cake known to humanity.

Extra cherries.

This is not a democracy.

And somewhere in the middle of all of this…

I keep coming back to one thought.

That instinct…

The I’ll just push through it reflex…

It kept me alive once.

It got me through seasons where slowing down wasn’t an option.

But it isn’t what keeps me safe anymore.

That’s a lesson I’m still learning.

One stubborn day at a time.

Maybe you need to hear it too.

You don’t have to earn your rest.

Not here.

Not anymore.

Around the Kitchen Table

One of my favorite parts of Thursdays each summer has quietly become bringing the Yard Yeti home after the Farmer’s Market.

Every week he seems to come home carrying little treasures.

This week?

Fresh strawberries.

Blueberries.

Asparagus.

The kind that still smells like sunshine.

Tonight’s dinner is probably going to revolve around those because honestly…

When someone walks through your front door carrying produce that looks like it was picked five minutes ago…

You don’t question fate.

A few years ago, I don’t know that I would’ve appreciated something as simple as fresh berries sitting on the kitchen counter.

Now?

They feel like tiny celebrations.

Maybe healing doesn’t always arrive with fireworks.

Sometimes…

It shows up looking suspiciously like asparagus.

🐾 Luna Note

Kitchen inspection complete.

One strawberry was nearly dropped.

I was prepared to assist.

You may thank me for my service.

🐾

🌲 Weather in the Den

Today’s Forecast

🌤️ Blue raspberry electrolytes with a 95% chance of Sprite.

⛈️ Scattered Illinois weather complaints.

🐾 Heavy Service Dingo supervision throughout the day.

💜 A 100% chance that you’re welcome here.

Where I’m At

Honestly?

Things have been… surprisingly good around here.

Not perfect.

My body still has opinions.

Illinois weather is still doing whatever Illinois weather thinks it’s doing, and my nervous system insists on providing live commentary every time the barometric pressure changes.

The headaches have been making themselves known.

That familiar background hum has been hanging around.

Just loud enough to remind me it’s there.

Surgery is getting closer, too.

I’ve started getting all of the familiar pre-op phone calls.

“Stop this medication.”

“Here’s what you do the night before.”

“Don’t eat after this time.”

“Arrive here.”

“Bring this.”

The usual dance.

If you’ve had surgery before, you know the one.

It’s oddly comforting and deeply nerve-wracking all at the same time.

Comforting because it’s familiar.

Nerve-wracking because… well…

It’s surgery.

Still, for the first time in a while, I don’t feel like that’s the biggest thing happening in my life.

And that feels… new.

A Table That Felt Like Home

If you read Tuesday’s Cryptid Dispatch, you already know that finding my biological father through Ancestry DNA has been one of the wildest chapters of my life.

We’ve been through that saga together.

This weekend…

He came back.

For Father’s Day.

But this time, he didn’t come alone.

My grandfather came, too.

I got to meet him for the very first time.

There’s something almost impossible to describe about meeting someone you’ve wondered about for years.

Someone who feels both familiar and completely new.

Instead of trying to fill the silence, we did something much better.

We cooked.

We made bouille, a French-Canadian beef stew that’s been passed down through M&M’s family for generations.

The kind of meal that fills the house long before it fills the table.

At some point during dinner he smiled at us and said.

“It tastes like something I remember.”

I don’t know if he realized what that meant to me.

But I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.

M&M, naturally, contributed her famous pineapple upside-down cake.

Extra cherries.

As tradition demands.

One of my stepbrothers came, too.

The whole afternoon felt…

Easy.

Comfortable.

Like we’d skipped straight past awkward introductions and landed somewhere that simply felt like family.

Of course…

Luna had opinions.

She met everyone.

Accepted everyone.

Then promptly decided they all belonged to her.

There is, unfortunately, no paperwork to decline membership in Luna Bean’s Pack.

She’s made her decision.

🐾 Luna Note

Pack Expansion Status:

Successful.

Applications are now closed.

You live here emotionally now.

Please throw the ball accordingly.

🐾

The Rest of the Week

The rest of the week has been wonderfully ordinary.

Grocery shopping.

Dinner at home.

Planning for the Fourth of July.

A little thrift store wandering.

The Farmer’s Market.

Fresh berries on the counter.

Three new bandanas in Luna Bean’s bandana drawer.

The quiet kind of happiness that doesn’t announce itself.

It simply exists.

I used to think joy had to be loud.

Now I think it’s usually found in kitchens.

Or around dinner tables.

Or in a sleepy blue heeler quietly resting her head against your leg.

💜 Cryptid Wisdom

Sometimes surviving isn’t the biggest victory.

Sometimes the biggest victory is finally having enough peace to notice you’re living.

The Actual Check-In

Alright.

Enough about me.

How are you doing?

Really.

Not the answer you give your coworkers.

Not the one you tell the cashier when they ask how your day is going.

The real one.

If today has been heavy…

You’re allowed to say that.

If today has been wonderful…

You’re allowed to say that, too.

Good days don’t betray the hard ones.

They simply remind us why we keep going.

If the big question feels like too much…

Let’s make it smaller.

✨ One word for today.

💜 One thing your body needs.

🌿 One thing you made it through.

🌙 One thing you’re looking forward to.

Every single one of those answers counts.

A Moment to Breathe

If your body feels especially loud today…

Let’s slow things down together.

Feel your feet against the floor.

Or the blankets around you.

Notice the chair supporting your back.

The coolness of your water.

The warmth of your coffee.

The weight of your favorite blanket.

The breeze through an open window.

Nothing has to change right now.

You don’t have to solve anything.

You don’t have to earn rest.

Just notice that you’re here.

That your body is carrying you.

That you’re breathing.

That today isn’t asking you to have all the answers.

Just this moment.

🐾 Luna Note

Hydration inspection.

This is your reminder.

Go get some water.

I’ll wait.

Mama says I’m exceptionally good at waiting.

She’s right.

🐾

One Tiny Win

Before you leave today…

Tell me one tiny good thing.

Not because we’re pretending everything is okay.

But because hard weeks deserve little victories too.

Maybe you finally folded Mount Laundry.

Maybe you answered one email.

Maybe you showered.

Maybe you laughed.

Maybe someone texted you at exactly the right time.

Maybe you simply made it to Thursday.

Mine?

Watching Luna quietly care for someone who needed her.

Meeting my grandfather.

Watching my family laugh around a table.

Fresh strawberries waiting in the kitchen.

A refrigerator that suddenly looks like summer moved in.

Those little things don’t erase the hard.

They just make carrying it a little lighter.

The Door Is Open

If this week has kicked your ass…

I’m really glad you made it here.

If you’re celebrating something…

Tell us.

We’ll celebrate with you.

If you’re grieving something…

You don’t have to carry it by yourself.

If words feel too heavy today…

Leave a 🐾 in the comments.

I’ll know exactly what you mean.

The Den has never been about having the perfect words.

It’s about showing up.

And you did.

That matters.

More than you probably realize.

🌲 Around the Den This Week

A little snapshot of life around The Crippled Cryptid.

🍓 Kitchen Counter

Fresh strawberries.

Blueberries.

Asparagus courtesy of the Yard Yeti after another Thursday at the Libertyville Farmer’s Market.

Dinner tonight?

Something comforting.

Something shared.

Something that tastes like summer.

🎃 Current Vibe

Blue raspberry electrolytes.

Sprite.

Summerween.

Open windows.

Thunderstorms somewhere in the distance.

A house that smells faintly of berries and sunscreen.

📚 Currently Appreciating

Family recipes.

Unexpected reunions.

Dogs who somehow know exactly what they’re doing.

Ordinary Thursdays that quietly become unforgettable.

🐾 Luna Bean’s Report

Bandanas Acquired: 3

Cookies Acquired: Yes.

People Added to Pack: Several.

Medical Alerts Performed: At least one very important one.

Balls Thrown: Never enough.

💜 Tiny Victory of the Week

Watching Luna remind me exactly why I believed in her from the very beginning.

🌿 Gentle Reminder

You don’t have to earn your place here.

You don’t have to be productive enough.

Healthy enough.

Positive enough.

You don’t have to have an inspiring ending.

You just have to arrive.

We’ll save you a chair.

🌙 Before You Go…

Leave one thing behind before you close this page.

One word.

One victory.

One frustration.

One thing you’re grateful for.

Or just a 🐾 if words feel like too much today.

Either way…

We’ll know you stopped by.

🐾 Luna’s Official Assessment

Pack Status: Accounted for.

Hydration Status: Still suspicious.

Mama Status: Closely supervised.

Yard Yeti Status: Successfully transported home with produce.

M&M Status: Still makes the world’s greatest pineapple upside-down cake.

Overall Human Performance:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Would absolutely keep these weird little humans again.”

Signed,

🐾 Luna Bean

Professional Service Dingo™

Director of Ball Retrieval

Chief Medical Alert Specialist

Chairwoman of the Snack Acquisition Committee

The Den’s still here.

So am I.

So are you.

We’ll check in again next Thursday.

Until then…

Be gentle with yourself if you can.

Leave the porch light on for someone who might need it.

Keep a little wonder in your pocket.

Throw the ball one more time if you’ve got a dog waiting for you.

And remember…

No matter how loud your body gets…

No matter how strange this road becomes…

You will always have a place here.

I really mean that.

Love you.

Yeah.

I said it first.

Your turn.

~Sky

© The Crippled Cryptid

Disability. Honesty. A little chaos.

(But softer today.) 🖤🐾

If you’re here, you belong here.
If today was heavy, thank you for carrying it with me.
If you’re reading from Bed Jail™, give your service dog an extra scritch for me.

🔗 https://linktr.ee/skylanarissa

There’s never pressure to donate – reading, sharing, or simply staying is more than enough.
But if you’d like to support my ongoing journey toward health, stability, and mobility, you can do so here:
💜 https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-skys-journey-to-health-and-mobility