I’ve recently adopted a practice where I name ten simple things I am grateful for each morning before my feet hit the ground. At first, it felt a little awkward, and I’ll admit that I initially couldn’t think of ten things beyond listing my friends and family. But then, with…

How are you, dear? It’s been so long since we’ve spoken. I know you say you are fine…but how are you, really? Our world has been upside down for so long now that the days are slipping into weeks and the weeks have turned into months and the months have…

My husband likes to get dirt under his fingernails. It’s in his DNA. Last night I found him outside on his hands and knees uprooting the few plants in our garden that had survived our wet winter weather. “You will get better light here,” he said to a clump of…

I write and enjoy breakfast with a small group of women each Wednesday morning. Now that we are all staying in our homes as the world turns upside down, we meet over Zoom so we can see one another’s faces and feel connected. We usually do a couple of very…

Autumn executed a hostile takeover in Seattle this year. One September afternoon my family was enjoying a sunny picnic at one of the many lakes around the city, and the next we were enveloped in a heavy marine layer that blew in from the Pacific and parked itself at the…

I recently watched a documentary on Amazon Prime Video called: Happy. It featured real-life stories of people around the world who, despite their circumstances, live happy lives. Something about the ideas presented in the show lingered in my thoughts for days. If happiness depends on our lives being simple and…

Our little group of pilgrims ranges in age from 42-years-old to 80. We have bonded quickly because of our common experience. We no longer need to ask someone to pass the coffee pot in the morning. Instead, we reach for it, pour a cup for our neighbor, break bread in…

Bucket lists aren’t my thing. I would rather look forward to something purely for the joy it gives me in doing so. When it arrives—whatever it might be—I try to embrace it wholeheartedly and with a sense of wonder. In looking ahead to a certain birthday this year where I…

If you are anything like me, the end of August can feel like the downhill slope on a rollercoaster. Without looking at the calendar I feel Labor Day looming ahead, signaling the start of school and a change of pace, and for me, the days become more structured and less spontaneous….

I’ve spent nearly two decades watching my son be comforted by a series of feathered raptors that live in our backyard. His coop full of noisy hens is his sanctuary, the place he feels most understood. I find comfort in silence. A quiet house, a long walk in the woods,…

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…