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This Is Not for Everyone (and That’s Okay)
I’m not AI-generated. My hair is gray and curly. My eyes need correction, and my wrinkles are becoming more prominent. I know who I am, what I need to do most days, and—just as importantly—what I don’t know yet. I try not to imply expertise where I don’t have it.…
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Not Everything Has to Be New
On familiar routines, losing your way, and remembering how to come home A few weeks ago, I took my dog on a walk, like I do every morning. Same leash. Same gate. Same loop around the dirt path while she sniffs, wanders, and does her very important dog business. When…
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I learned something awesome (and I want to share it with you)
Since I wrote about the question I’m taking into 2026—How can this be easy?—I’ve been testing it in one specific area where “easy” feels… suspicious: writing. Because if you’re anything like me, you don’t mind doing hard things. You just don’t want to make it harder than it needs to…
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A Practicum Note, a Skateboarder Mayor, and a Quiet Pat on the Back
Three Unexpected Gifts That Landed Exactly When I Needed Them Today I received three gifts:a disappointing practicum email,excellent storytelling from a former pro skateboarder–turned–mayor,and a perfectly timed note from James Clear. They may sound like strange gifts, but together they reflect how far I’ve come. A Revision Request and a…
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45 Years and Counting
1980. My plans for a fantastic summer vacation were derailed after my annual physical when I ended up sharing a hospital room with an 11-month-old baby in a full-body cast. Instead of kicking off my attempt to win the library’s summer reading program by reading the most books, I spent…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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