Respectfully, This Is Absurd is a personal storytelling podcast about the moments in my life that were heartbreaking, hilarious, complicated, unbelievable—and occasionally so ridiculous that the only reasonable response was, "Respectfully... this is absurd."

I'm Jackie, and Season One starts with me.

We're talking family, the military, motherhood, open adoption, relationships, divorce, illness, grief, weddings, starting over, questionable decisions, other people's questionable decisions that somehow became my problem, and all the bizarre plot twists in between.

These aren't perfectly packaged stories with inspirational lessons tied neatly into bows. Sometimes I learned something profound. Sometimes I made a terrible decision. Sometimes someone else made the terrible decision and I was unfortunately standing nearby.

Some stories are funny. Some are difficult. Most are somehow both.

I tell them the way I actually remember them—with honesty, hindsight, sarcasm, inappropriate laughter, and the occasional realization that perhaps I should have discussed this with a therapist before putting it on the internet.

Welcome to Respectfully, This Is Absurd.