Category: Words For Hard Times
Surviving a Doorstep Apocalypse (one year later)
One year ago, Hurricane Helene brought a thousand-year flood that changed everything here in the mountains of Western North Carolina—entire towns destroyed, highways gone, hospitals, homes, and my own apothecary lost to the waters. In this tender and very personal anniversary episode of the podcast, I look back on this “doorstep apocalypse” and reflect on…
A Farewell for One Willow Documentary
In the weeks after I lost my apothecary to Hurricane Helene, a documentary crew came to film with me. I’m so honored this elegy to One Willow, and this pivotal moment in my life, exists. If, after you watch, you feel moved to support the recovery, Marshall High Studios—the beautiful arts community and 100-year-old building that…
What is Lost is Not Gone
The tender ebbing of autumn is everywhere I look in the mountains. The trees shaking loose their gold leaf. The last apples falling from branches, the ceramic blue of the sky echoing behind it all, empty as a holy vessel. And then there’s the other losses, terrible and life-changing, that we’ve experienced this last month…
Surviving the End of a World
It’s been a week full of every feeling, every pain, every depth of muck and every kind of love since I last wrote to let you know about the destruction of our apothecary, and our entire town, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. At the end of the day, most days, I feel like I’m on…
Our Apothecary is Gone 💔
First of all, deep and profound gratitude for everyone who has reached out since last week to inquire about me and my family’s wellbeing. It was been a shattering few days here in the wake of Hurricane Helene. But thankfully we are all well, safe and whole. That said, it has taken me some days…
How the Earth Sees You
Several years ago I found an angel in the woods outside my house. Or, more accurately, I found a whole host of angels. When I first moved into my house it had been years since the garden had been cared for. I had my work cut out for me. One day in May I was up…
Humans are Water Moving Downhill
I was sitting by the creek the other day watching the last of the oak leaves fall, brown and sturdy, into the water. As I sat, I contemplated all the hardship in the world—the pain, the grief, the disconnection. And I found myself asking, as I often do, why? Why in a world of so much…
How I Healed from Lyme disease
Chronic illness has been a part of my journey in this life. It’s been my greatest challenger, the genesis of my darkest nights—and my greatest spiritual teacher. I was in my late teens when I first developed a set of strange, nebulous symptoms my doctors couldn’t piece together. Chronic yeast infections, terrible migraines and…
