Season’s greetings! May the spirit of the season bring you light and love! Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and happy Hannukah from our home to yours.   It’s been an incredibly difficult year for our family — the toughest we’ve yet to endure. But we’re stronger than ever and grateful for this Christmas and every day we get to experience together.   May you find and enjoy peace and stillness this season. The chance to reflect on all the wonders that abound, to find magic

It’s the anniversary of losing my sweet Rudy.   Rudy was the kind of dog who ruined you for all other dogs. I like to say he was the best dog to ever dog. If you ever met him even once you know this to be true.   Two years later my heart still hurts, aches, over the loss. I try to find comfort in the good years we had, to let the warmth of gratitude that I ever had him at all fill me, but I feel robbed. He was stolen from me too soon.   I remember the way his curly black fur

It’s my favorite time of year. The traditions, the parties, the COOKIES, the decorations, the music, the festivities, the movies.   I’m sitting in a freezing auditorium watching Lillian rehearse for a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer  production happening this weekend. The WIFI sucks, it’s cold (as mentioned), the rehearsal is dragging on forever, the seats are uncomfortable — but I am loving it.   The set is magical, the three and four year olds who fail to find their places n

Gratitude for sunshine on our faces on a mild day in November One more huge milestone checked off the list!   I had a successful total hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and  received the AMAZING news that no cancer was found in any of the removed organs and tissue.   While it was harder than I expected, I’m already feeling better.   I’m exhausted and sore, but grateful for the amazing humans who have and are caring for me. Every single medical professional I’ve

There’s a Barenaked Ladies song I used to love — still love, it’s just fallen out of the rotation — called “The Old Apartment.” The singer is metaphorically walking through an old apartment, post-breakup, “this is where we used to live.”   We all get nostalgic and spend time walking around in memories. Faded memories. We want them back.   It’s why we hold onto things — pictures, ticket stubs, playbills, buttons, tchotchkes — for those little reminders of the good times had.

A spontaneous hug broke out in the middle of a walkway in a crowded amusement park, thanks to my amazing tiny humans, and the tears could not be held. These kids and their dad are worth every obstacle I've fought to overcome. Hey guys! Sorry to have gone silent, it’s been hectic over here! With follow-ups, drain removals, expander fills, starting back to work, kids going back to school, getting six different iterations of back-to-school-funk (I was sick for a month and a half

The only golden in the world content to do nothing and would actually not prefer to go for walks, thank you very much! Back in college I...

I think there is a notion that once we become an adult, our personalities, who we are, is fully baked and doesn’t change. I’m not a...

I did it! I finished chemo! What seemed at the beginning as though it would never end, is now two weeks behind me?! Two weeks! Two...

Snuggles solve everything Today was supposed to be my last day of chemo.   It’s been a rough week.   I started out the week giddy with...

Embracing the baldness! Or four … as in four more rounds. That’s right, we’re stuck at four. We get a Mulligan tomorrow after bad numbers...

Justin and I at the top of the Pinnacle Trail I know it’s been a while and I need to update you all, but I’ve had neither the time nor...

Today was Green Day at Lillian’s school. So naturally we listened to Green Day on the drive in. It hit different today. Bottled up...

I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. Lately I can’t seem to get enough sleep. I didn’t need  to get up with an alarm — I’m off...

The cold never bothered Rudy I’m a bit of a perfectionist. Who me? Right. I know. I’ve been working on it over the years and, believe it...

Joy comes with me to every chemo infusion I had a rough week. Today is the first day I’m feeling good. I realized it in the shower when...

I finally have a free minute to do some writing … but I don’t want to. I am so exhausted and feel so crummy. Usually writing feels good...

It hasn’t sunk in yet that I’ve lived my whole life with a countdown clock. That I’ve been harboring, even nurturing, the enemy within...

I shaved my head today. Well, technically, Justin shaved my head. And on his birthday no less.   I decided not to do cold capping or to a...

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." — George Washington I have been preparing for battle....