(Earlier this year I wrote about Dad’s passing, and how life during pandemic made it so hard to “tell the bees.” Now we mourn my mom, who died earlier this month. These are the words of remembrance I spoke at her funeral, shared here with the encouragement of my hive, especially my sisters and my brother. I love you all.) It’s time to tell the […]

Eighteen months of life during pandemic. How can time feel like a slog and a sprint in the same moment? How can our hearts process it all when life comes at us with this kind of intensity? The bittersweet joy of a wedding, with the oldest generation notably absent, followed four weeks later by Dad’s death.  The thrill of a new engagement, at the beginning […]

I learned at a young age the value of being prepared. The snow scraper and kitty litter stayed in the trunk October through April (if you get it, raise your hand). Now perched in coastal NC, I replenish the “Spam, hash and Oreo stash” faithfully every May (again, show of hands and shout out your own variation of storm prep essentials). I’m back in Central […]

I pulled the rug out from under myself once.  Yanked the band-aid off a situation that seemingly wasn’t there.  And after a brief, yet painful, moment of sheer awfulness, I FINALLY knew EXACTLY where I stood. And I didn’t like the end result.  Not even a little bit.  Yet after months of guessing and table playing ‘every possible scenario’, one had ultimately presented that hadn’t […]

It’s interesting what comes in threes. And because ‘losing your identity’ / ‘letting go of what keeps you from going to the next level’ just did, I have a tale … I was sixteen when I started in corporate retail and worked at all levels – full time, part time, several at one time – for 26 years. Many were spent recovering ‘broken buildings.’ Two […]