There are many marathons in our lives. Some we run and some we watch.
Natasha lives in Boston. Calling it her favorite day of the year, she was primed to watch it. Mary Grace lives in New Jersey. Having qualified and trained, she was primed to run it.
They are cousins. They are my nieces. This year’s Boston Marathon was extra special for our family. Read more
(Time Period: About two years after moving to the care home.)
Gabriel answered the door with a warm smile. As he walked me into the family room, he gave me the report: “Grace had a restless night.”
Though she could no longer walk on her own, Mom often managed to get herself out of bed and while seated on the floor, to “scooch” around the room. On this particular night, Gabriel and Angela had checked on her and found her sorting through the stack of shoe boxes on the floor of her closet. Various bureau drawers were open with clothes spilling over the edges. Mom looked up at Gabriel and put her forefinger to her lips: “Shh.” Read more
In July of this year my husband, Jess, and I took a road trip to California. We drove from Scottsdale to Los Angeles, made several stops up the Pacific Coast Highway, and got as far north as Monterey. One Sunday we stopped in Carmel for breakfast before making that winding drive along the Big Sur coast. Read more
Most people say they’d like to live a balanced life, yet the idea becomes misconstrued when balance appears as an elusive, utopian state to be realized. Toward the end of the movie Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (played by Julia Roberts) becomes distressed when she fears that falling in love again will unravel the hard-won peace she had finally achieved. Her medicine-man teacher and friend dispense one more lesson when he says: To lose balance sometimes for love is necessary to live a balanced life. The drop-everything mode of making room to incorporate a new person into your life is at once unnerving and exciting. Read more