Writing

How I Got Here

For as long as I can remember, I have journaled to more fully understand the world and my place within it. After growing up in small towns of New England and Wisconsin, I developed a strong connection to the affirming rhythms of the natural world while working in the mountains and coasts of Alaska and Washington. Finding words to describe emotions, places, people, and experiences created an opportunity to dissect and embrace the moments that made my life meaningful. Sometimes, I wrote my way to the more hopeful, nurturing, and loving future that I believed possible for human relationships and for our collective relationship with the earth.

I began sharing my writing when my family entered the uncharted territory of supporting my Dad as a progressive dementia robbed him of memory, ability and autonomy. As I grappled with the logistical and emotional challenges of balancing caregiving, career and parenting, I felt strongly that our story wanted to be told – that somewhere in the joy and pain of our experience, there was a kernel of meaning that spoke to a universal truth. After waiting for “the meaning in our story” to make itself clear to me, I realized that there was not just one story to be told. Every narrative trail that I started down was connected to dozens more. I needed to tell many stories to discover the thread that held them all together.

Where I Am Now

My Dad died in December 2016 and I find the threads that have woven throughout the tapestry of my life have only become more vivid.  My first book, Without A Map: A Caregiver’s Journey through the Wilderness of Heart and Mind, was published in June 2018.

Why It Matters

I write what I know is true in my heart and offer my stories, questions and reflections of the present in service to the vision of a future in which all people will live their lives from birth to death in deep connection to one another and to the earth. I hope that my readers will hold me accountable to that vision and that many will walk along with me to bring it into being. Our shared movement towards a more beautiful world matters. It All Matters.

Learn more in this podcast with Suzanne Radford on the Nature Pod.