Dear Dad (5 Years)

Dear Dad, Five years is both an eternity and a blink of an eye. I learned so much going through your death that I thought it would prepare me for others. I learned that proactivity is important. I’ve now realized it may not mean much in the long run. As it turns out you were…

Currently: January

Currently living/working: I took a leave of absence from my job … Wait, who am I kidding? I’m a freelancer who makes her own schedule. For the foreseeable future, I’m an unpaid—but much appreciated—caregiver to my mom in NJ. It’s what I dubbed as my limbo life. Meanwhile, Justin is battling the dregs of winter…

2023 Byline Roundup

You’d think my skin was as thick as Kevlar with as much rejection as I’ve endured over the years in my freelance writing career and book publishing journey. But 2023 ended up being deeply soul-sucking in the ratio of my article pitches to published articles. In an attempt to rationalize (to myself) why I have…

Birthday Reflections: 45

Aging is wild and messy, so as an obsessive introspector (not a word, I know) who always overshares, I like to canonize my birthday through a mini aging journal where I unravel my physical, mental and social state of being. We all know I’m not known for brevity, so here we go …  If I’m…

Currently: February

Currently living/working: I think it’s adequate to say Justin and I have established 2 distinct work arrangements according to the season. In summer, our hours of operation are pretty much 6am-8pm with a mix of guiding, airbnbing and a few writing projects squeezed in. We move slower through the winter, but leverage the freer schedule…

Birthday Reflections: 44

As I celebrated another waltz around the sun this week (yeah 44!), I’m keeping to my annual “birthday reflections” post. Being an external processor means I pretty much verbalize whatever is in my head, so this year’s reflection has to do with women’s health. Specifically, perimenopause (fair warning! long post! TMI!) The average age of…

Dear Dad (3 Years)

Dear Dad, We still cry and we still grieve, but admittedly we moved forward in life without you for 3 years now. There are absolutely moments when my voice is full of loss and longing—either triggered by a memory, a dream (I love when you visit me in my dreams), your voice on a voicemail…

15 Years!

Justin & I have been married for 15 years. 15 years??? Holy cannoli. It feels like a milestone, so I thought I’d do a little unpacking of the arc of our relationship. I warned you I’m very reflective in my 40s!  As most couples, we started our years wrapped in a blanket of bliss, living…

Happy 45th Justin!

Guess who wrote this blog post??? JUSTIN!  For my 45th birthday, I thought I would write about one the biggest influences in my life … MUSIC! I estimate that I’ve seen around 400 live concerts, with a few bands multiple times. Music is a way for me to escape, to celebrate with friends, to bring people…

Happy 43rd to Me!

43 Augusts ago, I came into this world. My parents said I came out screaming and feisty, which is not unlike me at 43. I am spunky and my indoor voice is around 100 decibels. But I digress. I’ve done a lot of reflecting in the past few years. Way more than I ever have.…

RIP Nana

My last grandparent, Nana as we all called her, passed away Saturday, just 5 days short of her 95th birthday. She spent her last years in decline, but she was still pretty sharp until the end. And I have to say she set quite the example for all of her family during the other 90-something…

Dear Dad (2 Years)

Dear Dad, How can 2 years seem like forever and nothing at the same time?  It’s been a full year of the blandemic, and I think of how it would have impacted you. Particularly your last months of your life when you were hospitalized and in a nursing home. Had Covid-19 been a thing between…

Arctic Adventures: Volume 22 – Fire

***Fair warning. Our neighbor’s house burned down recently, so this could be sensitive material for someone to read.*** Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle. “What’s that noise?” Justin says. We were watching a movie on our iPad in bed, but that semi-distant crackling noise was too much to ignore for my alarmist husband.  “Do you think our…

Dear Dad

Dear Dad, It’s been 1 year since you physically disappeared from our lives.  I didn’t know how I would feel losing you. You were the first person really close to me to die and I mourned at my own pace. We knew it was the best thing for you, given your pain and suffering. My…

RIP Grandma La Vigne

Justin’s grandma, Barbara La Vigne, passed away this past week and I’d love to pay my respects to her by writing a little bit about our time on Earth with her! As soon as I met Grandma La Vigne and learned that she loved chocolate as much as I did, I knew that I would…