I joined a six-week journaling circle. Just to see whether that would inspire me to write again. This week the prompt during our session was, in brief: if your life metaphorically was a boat, what kind of vessel would you be traveling in? Others in our group spoke about being in a canoe, pleasure boat, even barges. I settled on a sailboat. Not a small dinghy sailboat, but a larger one that needs...
Every decade, I’ve marked my birthday with something unforgettable. At 30, I woke up in London, had champagne in a pub, and made it to a party in Versailles by dinner. At 40, I threw a rooftop bash with a live band in Manila. At 50, I lunched with friends on Victoria Peak in Hong Kong and hiked down through a tropical forest. At 60, my honey and I floated over Moldova’s capital in a hot air...
One evening recently, my honey and I were eating dinner when he suddenly remembered that we hadn’t looked for a specific spice at the grocery store that day. “It wasn’t on the list,” I said. “True. But we also forgot to bring the list,” he retorted with a laugh. Then, looking at it, he saw we’d forgotten a few more items. We both laughed at our own...
Pain is one of those things we all fear, isn’t it? Whether it’s a sharp jab or a dull ache, the idea of something hurting can often feel worse than the reality. Anxiety feeds into it, making the unknown even scarier. I’ve learned that over the last few years of navigating breast cancer. Today, I want to share my experience with a needle biopsy done a few days ago—not to dwell on the pain, but to...
