“Now honey, if the world’s going to fall apart around me, then I might as well enjoy my coffee.”

She sat atop the rubble and ruin, entirely aware of and resigned to the rising smoke of the collapsed building behind her, the chaotic shouting and ongoings of the people on the street, and of course, the constant, high-pitched drone of the city sirens reminding everyone (for surely everyone knew but might easily forget) that this was in fact, an emergency. …

It’s ten in the morning and we’ve got bluebird skies in my little German, farming village. I’m just greeting the lazy Sunday sun, standing in my kitchen, with a phone pressed to my ear and curl of steam from hot tea rising towards my face.

“We have two reasons to wear masks now,” she said to me, her voice echoing in from the phone. It is one in the morning in Vancouver where my friend is working the night shift in a little care facility. “COVID and the fires. Smoke is coming all the way up from the California coast.”

…

What will be your Hallelujah Moment?

When we crossed the border from California into Nevada, the first thing we realized is that gas stations are few and far in between, and by default, so is drinking water. The second thing we noticed is that each gas station doubles as a casino. Here is a short list of things I did not think about, at least not until I met you.

One: I did not think about how crude oil is extracted from the earth so I could take this cross-country road trip with something other than a bike or horse.
Two: I did not think about the…

Morning routines continue to dominate self-help and self-development scenes. They tout the importance of early mornings, yoga and meditation sessions, and seem to function on the premise that the people seeking such self-development either do not have kids or have the luxury and privilege to afford in-home childcare.

Certainly, the evidence exists to support the benefit of such routines. There is no shortage of such routines but the question still remains, what do these routines look like for single-parents or families with several kids or families where several members work multiple jobs. How do you make up such routines and…

Again.

Breathing means life. It is the most basic human instinct. We come into this world knowing how to breathe. By what other act could an infant muster the energy and air required to cry the way it does upon entrance in the world? No one teaches us this.

Have you ever watched a child breathe? Do you notice how their exhales are longer than their inhales? Have you ever woken up in the night and noticed how your partner breathes in their sleep? It is the same. Their exhales are longer than their inhales. Have you ever taken a…

It had been an eighteen-month dry spell. A literal dry spell where my only relationship with water was with the water I drank and the water I washed with. The longing to return to the clear and cool rivers and lakes of my childhood and early adulthood grew with each passing month, spending each shower wishing it was a waterfall. I would stand on the closest thing we had to a cliff and imagine a lake beneath me, remembering the last time I’d jumped with full faith that the water would catch me. …

Finding God in the Elements

Water

Submerged beneath the surface, finding solace in the silence that belongs to this place uninhabited by humans yet still at their mercy, I find myself face to what I assume was face with a sea urchin. Large and black, probably the size of a volleyball before all the spikes and two white dots, I presumed were the eyes.

How did you come up with this? I wondered at God, startled at how loud my thoughts sounded beneath the sea.

I pictured God, this time as a deity in a wetsuit next to me, but no…

…and the pain of building a home

The heat of the July sun beat down on my back as my hands sunk in the soft, fertile soil that bordered our back lawn. Sifting the soil through my hands and prepping to plant the mid-summer seeds of green beans, radishes, kale, chard, and sage, our little garden once looking jungle chic was finally starting to take on a more country cottage home appeal. Flowers conquered the backline and small patch of wild strawberries met the other corner before turning into currant bushes, more flowers, and hidden raspberries. My own little oasis.

…