I hate to fly, but I love to see other places, so planes are a necessary evil. Things had been rough both personally and professionally for weeks, and I was ready to do just about anything for a break from my life anyway; I felt tight and angry as a fist in need of some... Continue Reading →
A decade ago, when my then-husband and I were looking for a bigger house in our area, we continually perused a neighborhood about 10 minutes away, specifically one long street lined with 100-plus year old Victorians in various states of repair and disrepair divided by a dreamy esplanade full of maples and crab apple trees.... Continue Reading →
This week marks 12 years since my big brother David died. David was born 12 years before me. I'm now the same age he was when he fell 200 feet while hiking in the Colorado mountains: 47 years old, 47 years young. It's weird enough being his age. But, next year, it will be 13... Continue Reading →
I often wonder how my brother David would have reacted to developments in the world had he lived. Would he have joined Facebook? Probably — he would have liked creating photo albums of his trips and carrying on conversations in threads with other athletes. I think Instagram would have delighted him, with his penchant for... Continue Reading →
When I was growing up, we sang a lot. At home, in church, at school, wherever. One of our family’s favorites to sing together was a tune my mom says she learned in summer camp when she was 12, in Texas, where we all grew up. I'll remember it forever, she wrote me. Maybe because... Continue Reading →
retreat noun re·treat | \ ri-ˈtrēt \ 1 : an act or process of withdrawing 2: a place of privacy or safety 3: a period of withdrawal for prayer, meditation, study, or instruction For five days, I woke not to the alarm on my phone, but to sun pouring into my room at dawn accompanied by the musical conversation of birds in a gingko tree outside.... Continue Reading →
“When he's free soloing, it's when he feels the most..." Honnold's mother starts saying to the camera and pauses, so that I think something else is coming: ...the most alive, the most excited, the most successful. “It's when he feels the most,” she then reiterates, and leaves it there. “How can you take that away... Continue Reading →
Last weekend, my husband Peyton and I flew to Denver for a special occasion. I had reserved a small SUV rental, knowing where we were ultimately headed—south past Colorado Springs and Pueblo, then west to the small town of Alamosa, and really, finally, to the Sangre de Christo Mountains, where several 14,000 foot plus peaks... Continue Reading →
Around lunchtime on Wednesday, I stood in the shallows of the Connecticut River with my husband and two dogs, cooling my calves and feet, basking in an opportunity to get out of the heat. It was just the four of us playing on a thin expanse of sandy beach, but there were dozens of boats... Continue Reading →
Winters in Massachusetts are always longer and harsher than I’d like, native Texan that I am. Each year after four months of bundling in layers like an extra in Star Wars, just when I think temps can't possibly dip below freezing again and surely the snow is gone, we get hammered with another blizzard. By... Continue Reading →
True Scrawl 