“The Irish: be they kings, or poets, or farmers, they’re a people of great worth. They keep company with the angels and bring a bit of heaven here to earth.” We often hear the phrase, “travel moves you,” and while I have seen my fair share of the world, there has been no place that has touched my heart the way Ireland […]
Great, Big, Beautiful Grief is heading into its second week, and oh, so many encouraging comments, follows, shares and, most importantly, an abundance of genuinely loving support! Thank you to everyone who has reached out, read and absorbed. It means the world and fills my heart with the utmost gratitude. When I first introduced the blog to the public, I […]
The following post was written three months after my late sister was diagnosed with cancer. I wanted to share it here as the words I wrote then, when she was still alive, have become even more prevalent since her death and have greatly helped to inspire this new venture. The lesson, I believe, is priceless, and will open the eyes of anyone struggling with grief, loss, depression or who are simply seeking inspiration to find meaning in their lives. I can still remember the hot sun beating down on my face as I struggled to keep up with my dad and two older sisters; the smell of sweat, dry dirt and pine infiltrating my dusted nostrils. My legs ached and scratched from trekking straight up the manzanita-filled, boulder-lined incline from the base of the meadow to the top of the pinnacles. With each breath I longed to be finished with this day. Why had I begged and pleaded for them to take me with? Why had I agreed to “not complain one bit” when my dad had warned me about the strenuousness of the trail? I was eight years old, hiking with my father, a seasoned outdoors-man, and my two pre-teen sisters, also decent hikers. I just wanted to be included. I’d always had a longing to be in the woods. I’d always liked taking walks on trails, but this God-forsaken, high-desert scorched landscape, and these unfathomable vertical trails were getting the […]
