The Courage to Be Read
It's one thing to write your story. It's another thing entirely to let someone else read it. As Living in the And makes its way into the world, I'm discovering the vulnerability of being known, the grace of being understood, and the courage it takes to share your truth without knowing how others will receive it. Sometimes the greatest act of faith is simply telling your story, leaving room for others to tell theirs, and allowing yourself to celebrate the beauty of what you've accomplished—even when so much of life remains unfinished.
No. Take It.
I've never been particularly good at accepting compliments. Give me a little praise, and my brain immediately launches into a full-scale investigation of why the person must be mistaken. But after a day spent laughing, creating, and reconnecting with the theatre family that's been showing up for me for decades, I found myself wondering why it's sometimes easier to believe we're loved than to believe we're admired. Maybe learning to accept a compliment isn't about proving we're worthy of it. Maybe it's simply about trusting the people who see something wonderful in us. And maybe, just maybe, learning to say thank you.
Maybe This Is Thriving
What if thriving isn't somewhere on the other side of everything that's hard? Maybe resilience isn't always dramatic. Maybe it's ordinary—showing up, loving, praying, hoping, and trying again tomorrow. I've spent so much time waiting for the next big thing that I'm beginning to wonder if I've misunderstood which parts were the big things all along.
Nothing Happened. Everything Changed.
How does someone go from being one of your favorite people to someone whose name makes you sigh when it pops up on your phone? And why can some relationships survive years of distance while others quietly disappear without anything ever really happening? I’ve been thinking about friendship, distance, unmet needs, slow-motion ghosting, and the strange ways people move in and out of our lives.
Maybe They Do
What started as a ridiculous “Why not?” turned into two months of voting, sharing, dreaming, and approximately 7,482 references to Jeff Goldblum. We didn’t win America’s Favorite Couple—but somewhere along the way, I realized the contest had stopped being about winning. It became about 28 years of choosing each other, growing through the wonderful and the ugly, and realizing that maybe I’ve been keeping the wrong score.