Skip to content

Author:

  1. Home
  2. Author Archives:

Part 2: Not the Only One

October 6, 2016 /
During days of hiking in the wilderness with her son, Susan made discoveries about her child, herself, and the challenges of any great journey. She reflects on her lessons in this three part series. By the afternoon of the second day on the John Muir Trail we had hiked with our packs to over 11,000 feet and over two mountain passes. The sweat from struggling (I was struggling; Jack seemed to be sailing) up the steep ascent of granite combined with the increasing altitude demanded we double our drinking. Jack landed us a campsite surrounded by tall pines and overlooking
Read More

Part 1: A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with….a Plan

September 29, 2016 /
During days of hiking in the wilderness with her son, Susan made discoveries about her child, herself, and the challenges of any great journey. She reflects on her lessons in this three part series. It began with a conversation near Christmas. When my children are home for the holidays, this coach mom loves to talk about the year ahead. My son Jack hoped to do more hiking.  Both being achievers who like a challenge, Jack and I quickly went from idea to action plan for an autumn hike on the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Traversing into
Read More

September Sorrow

September 15, 2016 /
I refolded my mascara smeared and soaked handkerchief. The melodic poetry. The organ music. The stories of love. The funeral of my friend was beautiful. From weddings to funerals, sacred rituals bind us to our past. They remind us of our connectedness, of our shared joys and the shared heartbreak that no human escapes. Weddings remind me of weddings gone by— those I’ve attended, those I’ve officiated, and the two that were mine. But sitting in the packed pew on this Saturday, it was a funeral that opened my heart and carried it into my memory bank. The life of
Read More

Bitter and Sweet: A Tribute to my Sophia

September 8, 2016 /
She arrived at 2:55 p.m. on September 7th ten full years ago.  She charged into this world amid a flurry of frantic activity as my labor suddenly went into overdrive and I dilated from 7 to 10 centimeters in mere minutes.  3 pushes later she took her first breath:  My Sophia Grace. Oh how bittersweet this birthday is marking the completion of a decade spent dancing through the days with this daughter of mine.  From being the toddler who regularly pulled at my ear lobes for comfort in what we deemed Sophia’s ear tugs to now having long enough legs
Read More

Former Family Feelings

September 1, 2016 /
I approached my former husband amidst the room of the grieving. Momentarily disoriented by his polite reach to shake my hand, I leaned forward with an insistent and brief but sincere hug. “My dad always really liked you,” he said, forcing that smile I remember from our married years when he tried to look on the sunny side of sad situations. “And I always really liked him,” I said, looking away and choking back the tears. My former father-in-law was a good man. I remember him quietly giving a “be nice” reminder when squabbling between me the lawyer and my
Read More

The Sprint

August 25, 2016 /
I saw him as I rounded the corner on the way to my car.  He was near sprinting in his suit.  “Did Anna go in already?” he asked.  “I don’t think so,” I replied as I looked over my shoulder to check and saw the last of her classmates enter the wide front doors.  It was the first day of school.  It was the first time he missed it.  “Sophia is still out there,” I said trying to be helpful.  “Thanks,” he replied as he walked briskly by to wish our youngest a good day. I had triumphantly made it
Read More

I am a Firewalker… Really

August 18, 2016 /
Within a matter of hours, I would take a step I once thought impossible. The master firewalker was about to prepare me and a roomful of other courageous and anxious souls to walk across a bed of hot coals on our bare feet. “What are the fears that have held you back?”  She asked. Now I was not only going to have to worry about a trip to the emergency room, I should think about a lifetime of fears?  I reflected on a huge host of insecurities that had blocked me from taking that first, or that next step, or
Read More

Dreams Undone

August 11, 2016 /
You have seen her:  The gymnast precariously perched on the balance beam curling her toes trying hard to stay upright on the beam seconds before she slips off.  You have seen him:  The gold medalist Olympian returning to defend his record only to fall into seventh place during the final seconds.  The Olympics, for the majority of those who walk in the parade of nations at the opening ceremony, will end up being the deathbed of their deepest held dream. I think about all of the dreams that go into the Olympics – thousands of dreams coming from every corner
Read More

Waking Up About Sleep

August 4, 2016 /
When I was a girl, I’d sometimes go to bed in my clothes just so I wouldn’t waste any time getting a start on the next day. For much of my life, a shortage of sleep silently signified I was half as hardworking as my German mother of eight. As a young mom of two under two, stressed by building my fledgling law practice and struggling in my marriage, sleep took a back seat to my beliefs about survival and success. Out of touch with both my body and my burnout, I pushed through my days oblivious to my exhaustion
Read More

I Never Knew

July 28, 2016 /
Six words. Six words was the project assigned to my 6th grade daughter at the end of the school year. She was tasked with writing a six-word memoir of her life.  She completed the assignment and wrote: “I never knew they were unhappy.” I could think of a couple six word statements that I may have preferred: “I break for cats and books.” Or “I am happy, healthy, and whole!” Or “My mom is truly super awesome!” Any of these would have sufficed. Instead, five years later, she defined her life around her parents’ divorce.  This profound statement surprised and
Read More
« Prev1234567Next »

Archives