Taking Flight During COVID-19

I wasn’t sure this trip to South Texas would be worth all the trouble. What pregnant woman with a severely sprained ankle travels during a global pandemic? Was it foolish to risk exposure to COVID-19? I already struggle with claustrophobia on planes, would I have too much trouble breathing with a mask over my nose and mouth for 5 hours straight? Would my daughter be afraid seeing so many people with masks on? Would all the walking and work of navigating airports and operating as a bridesmaid in my younger brother’s wedding, impede the rehabilitative progress I had been making on my ankle?

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The Light of Empathy

Today I am over at Red Tent Living magazine writing about empathy, poetry workshops, and vulnerability. This event took place last summer, after making a mammoth move back to the U.S. from the Dutch Caribbean where I was living with my husband and three littles while he attended medical school. Life was complicated, and I…

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The Desperation Disciplines

The past two weeks have been a tidal wave of conflicting emotions: loneliness, sorrow, joy, anxiety, homesickness, gratitude, relief, anguish, resolve, love sickness, desire, exhaustion, despair, hope, discouragement, tenderheartedness, ferocity, and encouragement. I have experienced the visceral beauty of community near and far, the joint sigh of longing for wholeness and reprieve. We ache together,…

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