Dead Reckoning

“So how’s the writing going?” An innocent question asked out of genuine care and interest pierces my heart. As any writer probably knows, any writer who hasn’t been writing, because… because. This simple question shines an unwelcome light into the darkest recesses of my cringing soul, through the secret back entrance that was foolishly left […]

Scene Of The Crime

Eleven years ago today, I got married. Four years ago today, I faced my first January 9th as a newly single, brokenhearted person. Today – for the first time – I returned to the scene of the crime.

Four Long Years (not an election post)

Four long years And I don’t know where I’ve gone But I’m awake now… Life goes on -Bronze Radio Return Four long years ago my life changed forever. It had nothing to do with the US election, but the date will always be reminiscent of that moment in my timeline when everything changed. Four years […]

Sometimes It’s Okay Not To ‘Get Over It’

“But what if the greatest secret insider trading truth is that you don’t ever get over the biggest losses in your life?” -Anne Lamott The scary thing about books is that sometimes the characters jump clean out of the pages and into your life. This is what happened the other day when I was innocently […]

A Piece of Eternity

Last Thursday I put my phone on airplane mode and set my life on monastery mode. I spent four nights – three full days – at a Benedictine monastery situated on a dairy farm in the hills above Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. I settled quite easily into monastery life, attending the many services each day […]

Off The Grid

Sometimes you need to go off grid to get back on track. For a while now, I have been feeling a strong need for a retreat, to practice stillness, to wait, to be rather than do. In her book, “When the Heart Waits,” Sue Monk Kidd writes, “Aligning ourselves – heart, body, mind, and spirit – into […]

Starting at the Beginning

Sometimes to move forward, you have to go back to where you started. Just shy of three years ago, I landed on the shores of New Zealand for the first time in my life, brokenhearted and barely surviving, but excited for the hope of healing brought by a new adventure. Sometimes you have to go […]

Operation Full Circle

Three years ago, I got my heart broken… shattered into dust. A few months later, I embarked on the trip of a lifetime to “Middle Earth” and the “Land Down Under.” This trip, an exercise in self-guided adventure therapy, marked the beginning of an epic journey of healing, rebuilding, and renewal. Three years later, I […]

That Fresh Feeling

As the sun sets on the last day of a rather difficult year, here’s a few good things worth celebrating…

The Final Stretch: Christmas Ode to Samwise Gamgee

A Christmas Ode to everyone who has been a Samwise Gamgee to me this year.