Thoughts on faith, motherhood, grief, writing, and the stories that shape us.
A dream on a hill in Normandy, Mont Saint-Michel has drawn pilgrims and monks for over a thousand years. The moment you step onto its tide-washed land, you feel the divine appointment of it all.
Read moreAll of Paris is art — from the symmetrical bliss of its streets to the scent of perfume, Vespa fumes, and crepes. If you have air in your lungs, this city will inspire you.
Read moreFrance has such a distinct sense of place that when I leave, I miss it — its reverence for food, its tradition over profit, and the bedrock principles that no act of terror can snuff out.
Read moreI scheduled my preventative double mastectomy in September to give that dreaded month a chance to redeem herself. She didn't disappoint.
Read moreAfter one too many MRI biopsies, I decided I wasn't taking another lap around that monstrous circle of hell. Cancer or not, I was finding a way out.
Read moreMotherless mothering is its own wilderness. Without my mom's roadmap, I've had to define motherhood for myself — and teach my children about a grandmother they'll never know.
Read moreKara Tippetts dared to call breast cancer a 'great story' — and in doing so, she flew in the face of every fear I've harbored since my mom's death.
Read moreSorrow isn't the enemy of joy — it's joy's fraternal twin. After my brother's suicide, I'm learning how to grieve well and live fully.
Read moreStigma chases those who've attempted suicide, those who grieve them, and even the professionals who treat them. Changing this starts with raising our voices.
Read moreA vivid dream of a lion, a psalm about protection, and a song called 'You Are, I Am' — God was speaking, even when I thought he wasn't listening.
Read moreThe holidays after a suicide are a bitter cocktail of grief and expectation. Acting as if nothing happened doesn't help — but showing up does.
Read moreSix months of mammograms, biopsies, and fear led me back to the summer I watched my young mom die — and forward into taking charge of my own health.
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