There’s a memory from my early twenties that will forever linger in my brain.

I was home from graduate school, and at my parents, and reeling from heartache. It was the I can’t stop crying/I don’t want to eat/the world feels like it’s ending kind of despair. I felt as if part of my soul was missing. I felt as if my heart would never be able to mend.

I also felt like a fool for believing in the love I thought I had, for being kind, for trusting, for caring for this person.

And so, through my tears, I…

My parents have been married for forty years.

Between them, there are forty-years of love and laughter and more memories that they can count.

Forty-years of adventure and simplicity, and questions like, who’s taking out the trash? What are we having for dinner? Where are we going on vacation? Who’s going to pick the kids up from dance class and lacrosse practice? Where are my keys? Did you pay the oil bill? The electric? The mortgage?

Forty-years of supporting one another as they advanced in their carers. Of holding one another through surgeries and stress. …

When you close your eyes and think of your happy place, what do you see?

Do you picture the waves crashing against the shore,
and the heat of the sand against your skin as you gaze out onto the water?

Do you envision a cabin at the top of the mountain, the ground covered in snow, and a hot cup of cocoa in your hands?

Do you behold a house full of people, laughing and eating and drinking around a table, with bellies full of food and hearts full of warmth?

When you close your eyes and think of your…

There’s something so beautiful about the ritual of tea.

The brewing, and the steeping, and the pouring.

The tiny little cups carved out of porcelain, and
the big giant mugs that could hold a cup of soup,
the way you have to slow down and drink it, for if
you don’t; you’ll probably get burned.

You cannot down a hot cup of tea, and so
it’s one of the few things left in this world
that forces us to slow down and focus on stillness.

It’s as if the world melts away for just a moment, and all that’s left…

Inspirational is something of a buzzword.

We tell others that they’re so inspirational for going to the gym, writing that book, making that movie, or conquering that fear. We look in awe when they land that job, celebrate being married for upwards of ten years, and have five kids while maintaining a career.

We spend hours looking at pictures of inspiration on Pinterest or Instagram and listen to the most inspirational voices that we can find on various podcasts, and TED Talks, and audiobooks.

And yet, what we all too often forget is that the pictures of inspiration that we…

If you call them your people, I hope you pour into them. I hope you mention their name when you are in a room full of opportunity. I hope your relationship flows like a gentle river, that there is a balance to the giving and taking. I hope you don’t expect your people to do things that you would not do for them — for support is a two-way street. I hope you see that a relationship or friendship of convenience is not actually a relationship or a friendship at all.

If you call them your people, I hope you…

I sipped my morning coffee,
staring out at the clouds.

Cinnamon and coffee beans
danced upon my tongue,
awakening my senses and
lifting the fog of sleep from my head.

Suddenly, and without warning,
an eagle dipped down towards the trees,
as if they just appeared from thin air.

The world faded away as I stared at that bird,
majestic in nature,
its mere presence awe-inspiring.

I wonder what it thought about as it
soared above the trees.

Some people say that the eagle’s meaning is one of power of resilience, that because it reaches higher than any other bird…