I have been to Seattle Children’s Hospital so many times with my son that I’ve become weirdly numb to the routine. I watch, detached, as families walk through the doors seeking answers to impossible questions or treatments for an illness that seems to have no name. I’ve been there. I’ve…

Each year, two remarkable guilds combine efforts to host the Seattle Festival of Trees at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle. This year, the Dr. Forrest Flashman Guild celebrated their 40th year of fundraising for uncompensated care. At the same time, the Autism Center Guild raised money to help fund…

My friend, Michelle, became a convert 5 years ago after watching my son play in the yard with a chicken slung under each arm. She’d been wary of these modern day raptors since childhood while she watched her grandmother chase them around the backyard for Sunday night dinner. But as…

I was told these words taped to my bathroom wall came from a letter exchanged between F. Scott Fitzgerald and his daughter, Scottie. I don’t know if this is true, but they are sound pieces of advice. These beautiful nuggets of wisdom remind me to claim all the definitions I…

When we write about ourselves, we lay the pieces of our human heart onto the page.  Our secrets, our heartaches, our shame, and our triumphs become a language of their own. A soul-speak. When I decided to tell the story of Andrew and Frightful, I knew this story was bigger…

My first introduction to God was in the basement of a local church. There, I met a bearded man with a flowing white robe, who was flat and lived on a felt board. There were other important characters on the felt board, too, like Jesus, Moses, Mary, King David, and…

Every kid is That kid: Your special someone who’s unique. Still, parents and authors Kristin Jarvis Adams and Nancy Schatz Alton know what it’s like when you have the kid that all the other kids (and parents) wonder about. What’s it like to raise a child with autism who has a life-threatening…

My son dreams of becoming a chef. Spatulas, tongs, measuring cups, a tabletop deep fryer, and a dozen boxes of red velvet cake mix line his bookshelves like an honor guard of mismatched soldiers. His desk is a library of notebooks filled with recipes he gleaned while watching hundreds of…

It’s been five long months since the streets were dry and the city was bathed in sunshine. I don’t know if Mount Rainier still watches over Seattle from the southeast, or if she took off in search of some place that will appreciate her beauty on a more regular basis….

Last night I shared a meal with eleven incredible women who have made my world a better place just by being in it. We are an eclectic mix of ravenous readers and hard-core book critics who devour all manner of books from the classics, to ‘who-done-it’ mystery, to delicious and…