Seed of Change: From Election Week 2020
The United States has elected its first Woman, first Black Woman and first Indian Woman as its Vice President. * * * One of the greatest forms of love is listening. The still, small voice within is always teaching about what it means to love. This year, leaders I follow made an unprecedented shift towards…
Read MoreOn the Road Again: Rogue River, Zion Canyon & Family
Three weeks ago, my family was nearing two months of sheltering-in-place in our Baja home. We had been adhering to strict physical distancing guidelines. The kids hadn’t played with another child, and we weren’t socializing with friends in person. What had initially been a unique and precious incubation started to feel suffocating and lonely, even…
Read MoreTransforming our Creepy Crawly Home
At the end of September 2019, we moved into a little house on the beach in Southern Baja. We arrived to find the walls crawling with albino geckos – hundreds of them. The bedroom wreaked of cigarette smoke even after I laundered the bedding and curtains and left the mattresses out in the sun. At…
Read MoreSocial Media Distancing
My daughter has been out of school and we have been sheltering-in-place for 7 weeks. We have at least a month more to “quédate en casa” here in Baja California Sur. In March, I returned to social media to connect with loved ones and keep up with quickly evolving news during the pandemic. Now, I…
Read MoreIt’s so weird: A moment at sunset during the pandemic
I am sitting on our second story deck with a mug of vanilla rooibos tea, local honey and warmed homemade almond milk that I finished squeezing from its nut milk bag just minutes ago. On the horizon, the sun is slowly slipping into its ocean bed for the evening. Waves rhythmically crash on the beach…
Read MoreThe Miracle of Community
With each COVID-related blow to our sense of normalcy, I contract. First, it was the acknowledgement that Dave might be away working at the hospital indefinitely; then the school closings; then the news of the California shelter-in-place; then our own shelter-in-place here in Baja. Today, the men who are building our house next door arrive…
Read MoreI Am Not Nervous Eating
Those who have known me for a while know that I’ve been outspoken about my long battle with eating disorders stemming from adolescent trauma, insecurity and experiences as a competitive swimmer. Back on social media now because of COVID, I was scrolling through my feed the other day and noticed a lot of posts about…
Read MoreMy Favorite 2 Little Words
“Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything) That’s how the light gets in” – Leonard Cohen The corners of blackout film we’ve applied to this bedroom’s large windows have started to peel back, lighting the room just enough for me to have a sense…
Read MoreHomeless
I am standing outside of the hotel ballroom I had entered less than half an hour ago as I followed a sign that pointed the way to a 10am church service. Traveling for the weekend with my two young children to my once-hometown of San Diego, I had the desire for a quiet moment with…
Read MoreA Day of Death and Life at the Beach
“How about we go to Palm Beach today?” Dave asks as I hand him a glass of the dark purple, nutrient-dense smoothie I’ve just prepared. “Sure,” I answer. An hour later, we are packing up the car, and he asks if I want my fins. “No, thanks; I’m not swimming in that water,” I reply,…
Read More