One early evening in late May, I was walking around my neighborhood when I found myself alone on a wooded road. I didn’t realize I was by myself until I came upon two white-tailed deer – a large piebald and a smaller, standard brown.

I spoke softly to them, asking if I...

I’ve only ever made one New Year’s resolution – to take yoga classes two times a week. It was December 2009. I just moved to New Jersey from Tennessee, and I was working as a Research Assistant at a regional magazine. My 25-year-old metabolism was slowing down, and I n...

"There are signs everywhere."- Fools Rush In

I remember the first time I opened my daughter's file. My eyes scanned the page, navigating some pretty turbulent paragraphs. But they landed safely on three numbers – 617.

Her birthday and I were old friends. I hadn't thought...

“I’m a mandarin orange. I’m a mandarin orange. I will not fall out of the Jell-O.”

I had an extreme fear of flying until about three years ago. I remember selling sea travel to anyone who worried about the limitations of my high-skies anxiety.

“If you won’t get on a plan...

When you buy a new home, you take a picture out front, usually with the "Sold" sign strategically in the foreground. People did this long before Facebook existed – they just printed out the photo and put it in a photo album.

We do this because it's a big deal – it's lit...

It was a summer afternoon in 1992. I was spending the weekend at my grandparents, like I did most weekends between the ages of 7 and 12.

I was in the Upstairs Back Bedroom, a spare bedroom with an unimaginative, formal name bestowed by my grandmother, watching TV when s...

I was having lunch with a new associate last summer and the natural subject of kids came up – his were off to college in the fall.

I mentioned my daughter would be starting fourth grade that year, and without hesitation, I answered, "My husband and I adopted. She was 8...

When I was doing research for our New Mexico vacation this past summer, I discovered Chimayo, a small, rural town 25 miles north of Sante Fe within the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Chimayo is famous for a Catholic chapel most commonly known as El Santuario de Chimayo....

One famous Ferris Bueller once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it." 

Over the past seven years, I've come to understand the importance of pausing to celebrate life's victories, but also pausing to mourn its...