Heading towards the New Year is a great time to embrace a tight grip on the steering wheel of your life and ask yourself: “Am I fulfilled? Is my job causing me more stress and heartache than a sense of meaning? Am I growing in the right direction in my relationships? Am I spending enough time being mindful of what I use to nourish my body from the inside out, where I spend my money …
It’s OK to Miss Someone & Be Happy: Grieving at a National Park
Acadia National Park means the world to me because it’s a place where I can really feel my dad. When my mom and I spent a few days there in June of this year, just past the one year anniversary of his passing, we unexpectedly found him everywhere. It started on our first morning when we bought latte’s and started a gentle walk on the Ocean Path. We had originally planned to spend a short time there and …
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“To My Best Loves, I’m Sorry It’s Got to End This Way…”
It seems impossible to encapsulate the incredibly special life of my father and his tragic death on May 9th 2017 using only my words. How can I fully describe a person whose smile, as I’m constantly reminded, could light up an entire room, but who also wrote “I can’t beat the demons anymore” moments before he ended his own life? I live in a constant battle in my own mind memorializing one of the most …
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“There’s Always Money in the Budget for Flowers”
I try to make it a regular hobby to keep fresh arrangements of flowers in the home. It was much easier to keep up with when we first moved into our apartment a year and a half ago– I was inspired by living in a space that was my own and that I was completely in love with for the first time in years. I’d make a point to walk to the flower cart a mile …
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My Moth Story: Making it as a Fat Backpacker, Navigating Suicide & Conquering the Camino de Santiago
I kept avoiding putting this story together because I knew it would be heartbreaking-- but as I mulled over all of my stories about travel, trying to think of anything lighter to present, I knew in my heart this story was important to tell for my own healing. It was an incredible honor to come in a close-second to a seasoned Moth veteran when I told this story. I am inspired to participate again if …
The Last Time I Saw You
Written December 29th 2017: Christmas 2016 was the last time I was home before my dad died. I drove over 20 hours from Boston, half of it on a spare tire after I blew one out in Canada, the final stretch through a famous Upper-Michigan snowstorm from the Mackinac Bridge all the way home. After I got in and had been greeted by my mom, brother and herd of anxious Saint Bernard’s, I went downstairs …
The Powerful & Vulnerable Relationships Manifested By Thru-Hiking
Deep, true love doesn’t have to take years to cultivate, for this group it took less than one month to find. I didn’t know it was possible to connect with humans on such a level until we spent everyday hiking, talking, laughing, suffering through pain, being tired & grumpy, singing any song that came to mind & just walking in silence with one another (and sometimes alone) as we reached our goal of conquering nearly …
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