• Slipstream
    Independence,  Love

    Slipstream

    The moon rises to its midnight spot like luminescent hands on a clock. The last bang of the wooden auction gavel echoes, fades, and signals the day’s dismantle. Scraping seats…

  • Love,  Nursing Homes

    Marked

    …by Fashion 6:30 am. Today I have a 2-hour drive to the nursing home where I am assigned. As I distractedly lock the front door and head to my car…

  • Family,  Love

    Happy Birthday, Reese!

    One Reese is 1. Happy first anniversary of her day of birth! Do you remember that age when everything is still a possibility, no mistakes have been made, and we…

  • Hank, Cora, Bark the Herald Angels Sing
    Love

    Bark, the Herald Angels Sing

    As a puppy with eyes as blue as cornflowers, Hank loved to sleep in my brother-in-law Mike’s flip flop. Hank grew to be huge, lanky, and lopey with a cowboy’s…

  • Love

    Vipassana (3/3)

    “Begin again!” booms the resonant voice from the wall speakers that surround us. The voice combines James Earl Jones, a vampire, Michel from Gilmore Girls, and a belching bullfrog. It…

  • Rules, View of Building 1 and walking area
    Love

    Vipassana (2/3)

    Slowly and apprehensively, I drive down Green Street in the quiet Delaware neighborhood of Claymont. On my left is a six-foot privacy fence that runs the length of the block.…

  • Delaware,  Lessons,  Love,  Memories

    Vipassana (1/3)

    Lazily, I surf the internet, snuggled in the corner of my couch, wearing fuzzy socks, and a cuddly sweatshirt. “Meditation retreats near me.” Fancy, expensive ones are listed. These are…

  • Maria in front of glacier, worried
    Climate Change,  Humanity,  Love

    Worried

    I am worried. I am not a worrier, not usually worried. My mantra is “I-am-sure-everything-will-work-out-just-fine”. I like to think I am the epitome of anti-drama and anti-anxiety. But yet… I…

  • Selfie of Maria in a ski jacket with the Tetons behind her
    Friends,  Lessons,  Love

    Swipe Right

    While contemplating this chapter, I struggle with what to write about dating. I am very clear on what I did NOT want to write. First, I thought I would write…

  • Doug Kirby Nancy RIchert
    Friends,  Love

    8 Bells

    As I depress the turn signal to make the last turn into the West River Sailing Club parking lot, my heartbeat quickens and matches the tick, tick, tick. Daily, I keep my…

  • Family,  Friends,  Lessons,  Love

    Financial Fitness

    Maria’s 2019 Goals: Get my financial world in order. See number 1. What better time to address your financial health than with the approach of Tax Day, April 15th. This…

  • Joe Gebbia, founder of Airbnb, headshot
    Abby,  Airbnb,  Love,  Memories,  National Park

    Airbnb

    The podcast How I Built This interviewed Joe Gebbia, founder of Airbnb. There was a convention in Joe’s town that sold out of hotel rooms. Quickly, he made a website to auction off…

  • Girl with eyes closed and pot smoke coming out of her mouth
    Colorado,  Food,  Friends,  Kelly 1,  Lessons,  Love,  Memories

    Pot

    Everyone: “You’re in Colorado? Wink. Wink.” I was curious about how the legalized marijuana shops worked. I googled one near where I was staying in Fort Collins and visited. The…

  • Banner of female motorcycle rider along the street in Sturgis
    Humanity,  Love,  South Dakota

    Sturgis

    The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is an American motorcycle rally held annually in Sturgis, South Dakota. It lasts ten days and is usually during the first full week of August.  In 1938, a group…

  • Dr. Maria and her friend Sarah in the photobooth at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh
    Friends,  Love,  Memories,  Pennsylvania

    Pittsburgh

    “Road trip!!!!” One month. One car. One woman. One dog. One spreadsheet of AirBnB reservations and destinations. Five hours to our first stop. I want Pittsburgh to be my first…

  • Family,  Friends,  Humanity,  Love,  Memories

    OCNJ

    After skipping through the parking lot on my very last day working for the retail giant who bought my practice, my first destination is my family vacation. My immediate family…

  • Ernest Hemingway head shot with a grey beard and hair, exceptional composer of words
    Love

    Six Words

    Brevity is a virtue. Brevity is a virtue. According to literary legend, novelist Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write a short story in six words. Hemingway’s now-famous six word story read:…