The Fruition of Labor
“Birth is an opportunity to transcend. To rise above what we are accustomed to, reach deeper inside ourselves than we are familiar with, and to see not only what we are truly made of, but the strength we can access in and through Birth.” –Marcie Macari I supported my daughter in her labor as she […]
Pushing Through the Hardship Towards Growth
I stood by the curb and watched Nava work hard at climbing down from our mini-van. Although this certainly wasn’t the first time my mother witnessed ‘this torture’ I was imposing, she expressed her annoyance at me for being “so tough” on her. Her idea was, “give her a hand to make it easier; you […]
Raising a Service Dog
I have been on the other side of service dog work. Whereas my most recent interviewee, Ms. Brill, is assisted by dogs, I was a foster parent to a puppy, raising and training him to become a service dog. My husband and I started off applying for a companion dog for my daughter, Nava. As […]
“Live, Love, Laugh” with Service Dogs
I am pleased to post my third interview with Leigh Brill, writer, speaker and advocate for people with disabilities. I read an excerpt from her new book, A Dog Named Slugger, in Ability Magazine, and was immediately drawn in. Ms. Brill, who has cerebral palsy, has spent more than 10 years “in the company of […]
In Tribute To A Young Friend
Today was the fifth anniversary of the death of an 18 year old girl. Aviva was my daughter’s college roommate overseas. She was memorialized today with a brunch service that included moving and eloquent speeches and acknowledgment of a charity set up in her name to continue her good-natured work of helping those younger students […]
Meaningful Happiness
How do we fill our bucket? The Happiness word – it’s all around us. Tons of happiness books, articles, even an Oprah show on it this week. We as a society seem to think if we have more, get more, buy more, we’ll get to that point where we can say we’re happy. But we […]
How To Live Well
I am pleased to reprint the beginning of my guest post, published today on Alex Blackwell’s inspiring blog, The BridgeMaker. “The art of living well and dying well are one.” Epicurus Living in awareness of our mortality guides us in living life to its fullest. It serves as a compass- pointing us in the right direction, […]
Walking – Heart Work
Walking may have been instrumental in saving my daughter, Nava’s, life. Being on a ventilator for almost 3 months, the doctors were surprised that her heart remained strong. Despite the fact that her medical crisis began with a severely suppressed immune system whereby she became the statistic who developed a life-threatening secondary infection, a part […]
Coping, Au Natural
“Let me write out a prescription for something to help you get through the next few months. If she survives, it’s going to be a long haul.” This was said by one of the ICU doctor’s when my middle daughter, Nava, had a medical crisis that landed her in a drug-induced coma and on a […]
Having a Purpose
“He who has a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.” Nietzsche I had a very difficult decision to make midway during the year my daughter was critically ill. Do I go back to work now that she’s out of the acute critical stage of life and death, and in rehab, or do […]