“Enjoy life…It’s Beautiful” Today is Haydee’s birthday. Ten years ago about this time, she asked me if I’d join her on a trip to Guatemala, her homeland. A few weeks later, I did. Haydee was very sick, and she passed away on that trip. A few days before she passed, she asked me if … Read more
The Cugina Chronicles: The Road to Amaya’s The feminine for cousin in Italian is cugina. Whether we were hefting a giant banana in our single digits in California or approaching menopause in Monterosso al Mare, we’ve been a dynamic duo from the start. Six years ago we spent a couple months in Italy, an … Read more
A three-year-old gave me this mug back in the day, back when I used to teach preschool. I love preschoolers. I’d been working with little ones since I was in high school and I quit (officially) when I was ready to give birth for the first time. I just noticed the little chip in the … Read more
I don’t know what it’s like to be a dude. I’ve only been me. So I’m not saying one job’s harder than the other, you feel me? It’s not a competition. I can only speak to the work women do to survive, to thrive. We’ve heard the men-in-the-army phrase, “band of brothers,” … Read more
I like to write about little things that turn into big things. That spontaneous decision someone makes that turns into a life-changing event—for them, for someone else. This is the stuff of magic, of miracles, whatever you’d like to call it. I call it love. Pure and simple. That’s exactly what my new … Read more
I’m not one of those people who start a sentence with “I’m never on Facebook, but I did see this one thing…” Queue record scratch sound effect. These are the same people who say, “I never watch TV, but I saw…” I call bull. If you’re one of those people, … Read more
I’ve accompanied John on his business trip to San Francisco this week, and while he’s been in marathon meetings, I’m checking out the city, meeting friends, eating the tea leaf salad at Burma Superstar or just enjoying the view from the 32nd floor of our hotel, with its panorama of the financial district, … Read more
In Kahil Gibran’s piece, “On Joy and Sorrow,” he says, Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter arises was oftentimes filled with your tears. How else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. I’d read that passage … Read more
This is a photograph on my wall. It’s on my birthday, ten years ago. I’m with my friend, Haydee, who passed away a week and a half or so later. She’d been fighting ovarian cancer for five years. Haydee had been fighting something else for much longer, maybe her entire life. She fought against … Read more
Some are calling this “the year of the woman.” I would love for it to be the year of “eyes wide open.” The year when, collectively, we stop looking the other way, stop accepting bad behavior as just “boys-will-be-boys.” A group of women in Paris have denounced the #metoo movement. I just don’t get … Read more