Kutnick's Korner

My name is Kimberly Tucker Kutnick. And, on February 8, 2021, I had bariatric (gastric bypass) surgery.  I am coming clean.  It's been over a year, and I am ready.  I have written and re-written this so many times because I wasn't sure I was going to post this. Or, how I was going to tee it up (that sounds so corporate America of me). But, a friend once told me that my superpower is writing. So, here I go. First, I want to clear myths. Bariatric surgery is not only for people with morbid obesity. More people who are not morbidly obese have the surgery vs. those who are morbidly obese. My BMI was "obese", but I was not categorized as morbidly obese.  Secondly, this is not the easy way out. This is not a "solution". This is a tool. This is one of the most challenging things I have ever endured. When you hear the expression "It takes a village"...for bariatric it certainly does...I have a team that consists of a surgeon, psychiatrist, therapist, di

If you had been born on your due date, I would not be writing this. Why? Because you would have missed the cut-off, and you would be entering your Senior year in high school. Not Freshman year of college. But, you made the cut-off, and in two weeks, you will be spreading your wings as you enter the next chapter of your life. College. Over the past year as we entered the college application process, I have been running your life's timeline over and over again in my mind. Savoring, holding onto, and remembering the moments big and small. I keep trying to get those actual feels that I had in those actual moments, and sometimes I can actually feel that time. And, while it is hard to put it into actual words, that is how I have been processing this big life-changing experience, my son. You came into my life on August 20, 2003, at 36 weeks. And, you lived your first few weeks of life in the NICU. With every passing day, all I could think about was the time that was cutting into my matern

Yes. We know. COVID sucks.  My kids are sick of me saying "this is all so (you can use your own adjective) weird."  Let's all agree that this whole year has been a total shit show. For everyone. Incredible amounts of Loss. Loneliness. Isolation. Weirdness. Challenge. Nobody has been exempt. Not from a newborn all the way through an elder. We will be talking about this for years. Documentaries will be made. Our kids will tell their grandchildren about this. It's big.  I have dug very deep since March trying to see how I could personally push through this as someone who suffers from General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and a small side order of depression. I used to work from home before I came to my current company, 5 years ago. In my former life, I let myself become swept over by isolation. And, it was much worse in the winter. Sometimes I didn't even get the mail. So, I came into this Covid time with a different outlook, and I wanted to share some of my positives. Beca

Let’s face it. There have been good days and bad. Nothing defines what it will or won’t be when I wake up. It just is all weird. Half of the US is seemingly business as usual. The other half...the one I am living in....not. Grocery shopping with a mask is weird. The fact that I haven’t been to a restaurant since the BEGINNING of March is weird. Haven’t been to my office since March 13. Weird. Can’t or don’t want to fly anywhere. Weird. Should be packing camp duffles and running around doing fun camp errands.....We aren’t. It. Is. All. So. Weird. And, blank. And, I feel uncomfortable. Like I wake up and still can’t believe it. Groundhog Day. I think to myself,  “Will life ever be normal again? Will people act how they used to in grocery stores? Not standing 6 feet apart? Afraid? Will there be live music in an open air stadium or arena? When will restaurants be packed with banter and pleasantries as a regular thing to do? When will we be a mask-less society? When wil

We hear about the bad stuff. Pittsburgh, Paris, England and the KKK. We watch it on the news. We read about it on Twitter. We see the posts on Facebook. It's real and it's happening all around us. But, yesterday, for the first time in my 45 1/2 years I was personally victimized by pure hatred and antisemitism. To say I was shocked would be a complete understatement. To say I was beyond words in the moment would be the truth. I have never experienced such direct, personal malice as a Jew-until yesterday. Here's what happened. I was looking for someone to help clean my house. And, in the process a friend of mine from college  recommended a nice woman who could help with laundry and other household tasks. While I would love to say I am the best homemaker in the world, that wouldn't be true. I am busy. I need help in the home. The woman she referred me to didn't speak clear English. And, her husband is the person you contact to coordinate estimates. When we firs

I think there's a saying something like....the days go slow and the years go fast. Even if it's not an official saying, that's how I feel. About a minute ago, or what it seems, we rushed our lives from the city to the burbs in an effort to educate and raise our kids. My son was a week shy of 5 and my daughter was 2. We have been here almost 9 years. I remember sitting on the bus for Kindergarten orientation day with my son and my husband. We stopped at all of the houses to pick up the kindergartners on our route. One by one the little 5 year olds excitedly climbed aboard the bus followed by their parents. These were my general thoughts......"I can't believe my little man is going to Kindergarten. Will he be friends with any of these kids on the bus? Will he be okay? I can't believe how big he is! How did he get to be so grown up?" He was off to the biggest chapter yet of his five year old life. I am having a parallel experience exactly 2 months short