When I was working full-time at the school district and caring for my husband, it seemed like I was living in two different worlds. Work was an alternative reality to dealing with the uncertainty of brain injury. It provided order and rationality compared to the chaos of caregiving. The two worlds were distinct and separate.
It’s been nearly a year since everything shut down due to the pandemic. I, like everyone else, have turned inward: no more dining out in restaurants, browsing bookstores, shopping for clothes or traveling. Most of my activities are on Zoom: my weekly writing class, yoga twice a week, workout three days a week, monthly writer’s
Since the pandemic, I have been obsessed with jigsaw puzzles, preferably 1,000 piece ones. It’s my escape from worries of the spread of the virus, the upcoming election and the general mess that 2020 has brought. I start each puzzle the same way – sort out pieces by color then take the edges and build
I was recently a guest on The Happy Healthy Caregiver podcast with show host, Elizabeth Miller. We talk about how I navigated the caregiving years I had with Perry and what life has been like for me after my caregiving responsibilities ended. I talk about how I tried to maintain my self-identity and self-care
I find it hard to concentrate or do any serious writing during this pandemic period. I can’t stop watching the news, knowing that it adds to my anxiety but I can’t seem to turn off the TV or social media. I can’t do many things that used to give me a sense of calm –
I encountered this lovely starfish on one of my walks at the beach back in early February. It was low tide when took this picture, but the surf line was still a good ten or fifteen yards away from this pool of water. I feared for the starfish and its chances of survival. What
Over the holidays, the boys and I spent a few days in Berkeley to extend our visit with family. I rented a house in North Berkeley, near the tunnel that leads to Solano Avenue. It was an area we drove through often when I was in graduate school and Perry was in law school in
My summer was filled with momentous events – a trip to Russia, a keynote speech at the Well Spouse Association in Las Vegas and a visit to Seattle where my book was a finalist for the Nancy Pearl Book Award for Best Memoir. But one of my favorite activities was (and still is) walking
I bought these hiking boots in February in anticipation of my hike on the Camino de Santiago trail in late April. For two months, I wore them every day, to the grocery store, on neighborhood walks and on conditioning hikes at Will Rogers State Park. I experimented with socks with different thicknesses to find the
I spent a week in Tuscany at a writer’s retreat with this lovely view from my bedroom window. I arrived after a whirlwind of travel and sightseeing: hiking the Camino de Santiago trail in Spain, visiting quaint Dutch towns in the Netherlands, and exploring Renaissance art in Florence. I was scattered in thought and feeling
