I’ve stayed with things longer than I should have simply because I’d already put so much time into them. Years ago, I decided to try selling some of the things I made at craft fairs. I spent weeks making inventory and getting everything ready for the first one. I hated it. Not making things. I … Read more
Some days it isn’t the big decisions that wear you out. It’s all the little ones. What’s for dinner? Should we go somewhere this weekend or stay home? Do I answer one more email or call it a day? None of those decisions are especially important. Yet by the end of the day, they can … Read more
It’s the last week of July. I just looked at the calendar and realized we’re four days from August. I seem to have this realization every year. Summer always feels longer when it’s ahead of you than when you’re living it. We’ve had a good summer. We took the train to Chicago, went to a … Read more
The first trauma I was called into, I was afraid. I wasn’t afraid I’d fail. I’d simply never been in a room like that before. Fear doesn’t mean you can’t do it. I know that now. I didn’t know it then. A man who had been shot, bullet lodged in his T-spine. When I got … Read more
This month we built a retaining wall. We were both really busy with work. There were dinners with friends, a cardinals game, walks with the dogs, rounds of mini golf, a movie with Tom and Sam, coffee outside before the day started, and a brunch we almost talked ourselves out of. There were nights I … Read more
For a long time, I thought life was mostly about its biggest moments. The trips, the accomplishments, the finish lines. I was always looking slightly ahead of wherever I was. This was especially true when I was back in school. Getting through it — just being finished — was never far from my mind. I … Read more
I had days off and a list. Real plans — things I actually wanted to do. I finally had the time. And I still couldn’t start. Why can’t I start when everything is lined up? That’s the question this long weekend answered for me. The list was there. I was there. And somehow the distance … Read more
There’s a version of your life you keep meaning to get to. The life you’re postponing isn’t a dramatic one. Not a fantasy. Just the version where you actually do the things you say matter — where you’re present at dinner instead of half-thinking about the week ahead, where Saturday morning doesn’t disappear into logistics, … Read more
I spent years accumulating a life, and then I spent years quietly letting pieces of it go — without ever calling it that. I started as a secretary. Moved through accounting, became a controller, and then — gradually, for reasons that made sense at the time — stepped back. Part-time. Assistant work. Full charge bookkeeping. … Read more
