“Statistically my time was up at least a year ago. But I’m still here,” wrote my childhood friend Marisa at the top of her Facebook note “25 Random Things About Me.” I had read and re-read her list so many times I’d nearly committed it to memory.
Tags: childhood, death, friendship, life, stories
My latest piece is a book review of Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain. I met the author Dr. Dan Siegel a few weeks back and have been putting his “inside-out” tips for helping teens thrive into practice in our home. Dr. Siegel is an expert in the correlation between mindfulness practices […]
Tags: adolescents, brain, concentration, downtime, friendship, meditation, mindfulness, play, sleep, teens
A couple of years ago I blogged regularly about my Year to Live project. The 365 day experiment profoundly changed the way I think about life, even to this day. Every once in a while, something fantastic and year-to-live-y grabs my attention and makes me want to jump up and share it with you.
Tags: death, family, friendship, gratitude, happiness, hope, journey, life, One Year to Live, relationships
Having neither spectacular accomplishments nor grave misfortunes to report, and, to be honest, having exhausted the vein of humorous family anecdotes over the years, I will tell you instead that we are all well and fine, and hope that you are too.
Tags: family, friendship, holiday
Ah, Black Friday. The most ironic holiday of the year! Shopping list in hand, sharp elbows at the ready — this is the day we beat back our fellow man in the quest for that perfect holiday gift for our loved ones. Coming at the heels of Thanksgiving, it’s hard to imagine a faster way […]
Tags: Black Friday, family, friendship, holiday, National Day of Listening, stories, story, StoryCorps, Studs Terkel, Thanksgiving
This month marks a year since my one year to live project came to an end. And a year since my close childhood friend Marisa died of metastatic breast cancer…. I have some good news to share. I’ve just come back from Marisa’s brother & sister-in-law’s baby shower. Marisa would have been an amazing aunt to this little one, and I like to imagine her smiling at all of us.
Tags: belonging, family, friendship, gratitude, happiness, hope, journey, laughter, life, reflection, relationships, wisdom
What I did not write about was the all-too-real end-of-life journey of my earliest childhood friend Marisa, who was courageously facing metastatic cancer while I went about my hypothetical journey.
Tags: connection, contemplation, death, family, friendship, gratitude, happiness, hope, journey, Kate Braestrup, laughter, life, meditation, mortality, One Year to Live, relationships, wisdom, Zen
I wanted to ask if she might like to have lunch someday. I felt nervous and 17 again. Thankfully she beat me to it. That’s how I came to be seated in the dining room of her orderly, yet cheerful, northern NJ condo.
Tags: connection, death, dying, Elderhostle, FaceBook, family, friendship, gratitude, high school, hope, journey, New York Times, relationships, teacher, true story, wisdom