From her pillow, she said, “I believe in the music…” And then closed her eyes, and said no more. These were the last words ever breathed by my dear friend’s mother. It’s with utter respect and permission that I repeat these words here. I often think about last moments, about the last…
Grief can churn our insides. Losing our beloved pets, our favorite humans, or our long-chased dreams, anticipated or sudden. Yet, we’re often encouraged to focus on the positive, to express gratitude for what we had while it was in our embrace. To lean into all the good feels the experience gifted us. Don’t worry, this…
The wishing tree lay fallen on her side. Once stretching to the heavens, emerald leaves hiding monkeys from view, she now sprawled across the jungle floor. Branches grown twisted for the safekeeping of birdnests now down-spiraled into dirt. Every uplifted bough had smashed through the younger, smaller trees, splitting them in pieces as feathers…
She appeared one morning a few weeks before Christmas. Bulbous, but near-missable and centered in mid-air at eye height. Her web, perhaps not the biggest I’ve encountered on my travels through jungly, remote spaces, but the biggest web I’ve seen here in Nicaragua. In truth, the biggest web I’ve ever discovered in an abode…
Mornings used to be slower. In the days before Roo. Even with Tino’s daily 4 am meows for breakfast before sunrise, (food is already in her bowl, she wants fresh breakfast); when I later awoke to my morning, it would unfold slowly. Roo has shaken out that easy-paced morning routine over the…
Today’s yoga on the beach was powerful. My mind called out to the ocean through the entire 90-minute sequence. Whenever my thoughts carried me to unpleasant places, I closed my eyes, and let the waves fill my ears with their sound. They were coming for me, bubbly and consistent and endlessly reaching. I…
It started with the discovery of a flurry of feathers. The fluffy grey tufts were so small, no bigger than dimes, and tossed throughout my bedroom floor like deflated party balloons long abandoned after a party. Moths, geckos, and grasshoppers had thankfully been my only gifts from Tino these last couple of years.…
Self-acceptance has been a heavy theme this week, emerging from several unconnected conversations with friends and clients. This has been especially true for me this week. Every day, I experienced false starts with my writing, and with other projects with which I am trying to progress. In truth, landing back in Nicaragua (after…
Let’s get right to it – the “accidental break” points at the past six weeks of my readers finding their inbox void of my latest piece of writing. I have been writing, but not anything I have wanted to post. Rather, I thought I would maneuver throughout the holiday festivities, indulging in late, late…
Prefer to be read to? Have a listen instead. I woke up at 4 am yesterday to a text from my former landlord claiming charges to repaint the walls in my condo. Charges for “wear and tear beyond normal” that I don’t believe I should be blamed for. The claim seems petty, and…