“Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.” – Ray Bradbury I’m leaving for a 7-day Hawaii vacation this weekend. Now that’s a sentence I’ve been longing to write for a very long time. …
There is a maxim that when something is right and meant to be, doors that were previously locked will suddenly fly open. Ever since I got up on a Moth storytelling stage at Housing Works in New York City almost two years ago to tell my first true story, I have found that to be true. I discovered …
Continue reading “Doors Wide Open – My Storytelling Odyssey”
It’s 1998 and my new husband and I are surrounded by dozens of kittens at an animal shelter. Back then, there were no buttons you could push on your phone to watch cat pictures and videos. Want to see adorable baby animals being adorable? Then you have to physically get in your car and drive …
Or…she’s just the coolest kid around My 16-year-old daughter has been an artist since she was old enough to hold a crayon. I’m constantly amazed at the beautiful art she’s created over the years in all different mediums – pastels, watercolor, ceramics, pencil, ink. She’s a maverick and does it all. While I adore her artwork …
Continue reading “Raising a Teenager. I Must Be Doing Something Right”
“And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon.” – Edward Lear, The Owl and the Pussycat My childhood memories are jumbled, jagged and incomplete – entire years wiped clean of any clear recollections or defining moments. But certain people and experiences stand out. Lucio and …
Over the weekend, I read that Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind cleric found guilty of plotting to wage a “war of urban terrorism” against the U.S. (New York City in particular), had died in prison. The news sent me hurtling back to 1995 when I was a reporter on the New York City desk for …
I am 54 years old, but until today, it’s mostly been just a number. That’s because I’ve been too busy feeling incredibly young, invigorated and alive. I’ve discovered storytelling, found that I’m good at it, and am busy turning it into a third career. I have dozens of new storytelling friends who are 10, …
Lesson four for those counting: Sobriety also taught me to : “Find the lion inside yourself and learn how to be brave.” Putting down the crutch of drugs and alcohol and giving up old friends in order to chart a new course in my life was hard. Really hard. I was so young, and most …
Once I stopped worrying about what other people thought about me (see last post), I was ready to move forward. Lesson 2: “Be authentic and speak from your heart.” Part of recovery is getting up in front of rooms filled with strangers and sharing your story of how you came to find sobriety. The first few …
Continue reading “Lessons Two and Three – Just in time for Valentine’s Day”
Back in 1988, I made a decision that altered the course of my life. Sick and tired of my extended adolescence, a dead-end secretarial job and a passive existence centered around where my next drink or drug was coming from, I reached out for help, and at age 25 walked into a meeting of Alcoholics …