How the Story Unfolds: Chapter One
Angry storm clouds, pregnant with rain, screamed with lightning as I gripped the seat handles and stared out the window of the plane, willing this trip to Montana to be over. The dark, tumultuous sky seemed to mirror our family’s last two and a half months. I gazed at my thirteen-year-old daughter, Katie, as she…
How Can This Be Easy? The Question I’m Taking Into 2026
It means I’m done making things more complicated than they need to be — especially around the things that matter most. Every December, I choose a word—or sometimes a phrase—for the year ahead. In past years, my words have been things like gratitude, hope, heal(th), consciously intentional, and delight. This year, I’ve chosen: How can this be easy? And before my…
How Writing Helps Me Hold What’s Hard
For almost 25 years, I’ve been writing about the girl who would become my daughter—trying to make sense of a parenting journey that has looked nothing like the one I once imagined. From the posts I sent to listservs during our Russian adoption process (back when the internet was barely finding its legs), to my…
The Value of Connection
I spent last Saturday in three completely different rooms with three completely different groups of people—and somehow, every one of them was teaching me the same thing. We are starving for connection. Not the digital kind, not the “hope you’re doing well” kind—the real, in-the-room, eye-contact, shoulder-to-shoulder kind we forgot how much we needed during…
My Grief Is No Less Because You Think It Should Be
I didn’t ask “why” much as a child. Perhaps it was my “good girl” nature that made asking why feel like a challenge to the person being questioned, and that felt uncomfortable. So instead, I read books, dictionary entries, and encyclopedias for answers to my whys. Those days are behind me, and I’ve started asking…
Is Your Gingerbread House Crumbling?
In this season between Thanksgiving and the New Year, we have many opportunities to gather, celebrate, spend, indulge—and overindulge! I’m usually all in starting the Friday after Thanksgiving, but this year, I haven’t felt that way, and I’m curious about that. (It could be the warm weather we’re having, which is more suited to sand…
Reflecting on Gratitude
Each fall, as my Instagram feed fills with #30daysofgratitude challenges, I find myself reflecting more deeply on what I am grateful for. Although I don’t document my daily thoughts, being grateful is an intrinsic part of who I am. It streams through my mind like the blood that flows through my veins. It permeates my…
People-Pleasing and the Art of Friendship
Today (August 6) is National Friendship Day, so it seems appropriate to post what I’m learning about myself in adult friendships. Enjoy! I never saw myself as a people pleaser until I lost a long-time friendship and had to consider the path that led to its demise. Instagrammer Hailey Page Magee (@haileypaigemagee) shared these people-pleasing…
Never Underestimate Your Impact
When I was a college student, I had an opportunity to work for Councilmember Harold “Rusty” Fairly. I was interning for his public affairs consultant, who said, “I want you to go help Rusty out.” So I walked a block over to City Hall and met the man who would be like a second father…
Motherhood Isn’t A Position You Can Resign From
May is mental health month and I’m thrilled to be seeing such a targeted focus on raising awareness and reducing the stigma around mental illness. I’m trying to do my part to add my voice in a productive way and am grateful to the Independent for sharing this article. Surviving Motherhood: Motherhood Isn’t A Position…