The Backstory My family knows, friends close to me know, and some colleagues know. People who happen to catch random posts on the internet know. For the past couple years, we’ve been trying to have another child through surrogacy. After complications I suffered at the end of my pregnancy with …
An Appeal to Physicians to Normalize Infertility
I've talked a fair amount about infertility on this site. But how does it dovetail with designing your ideal work life balance? Physicians (and other professionals, for that matter) are conditioned to put our heads down and keep working. To not appear weak. To not ever get sick. But the reality …
Learning Lessons From Nature
There’s this noxious weed called thistle all over our property. It’s comprised of a thick stalk, often topped with a venus flytrap-looking purple flower. The oily, spiky leaves poke and sting as you brush by, and although some stalks are eyesores as tall as 4 feet, the small ones will surprise …
Laundry: A Simple Pleasure
Have you ever realized that something so plain, so mundane, has significant meaning for you? I used to wax poetic about picking raspberries. But now... there's something about laundry. It seems like a boring chore; it's even something that people avoid and avoid until they have no clean …
What I’m Most Thankful For In This World
This Thanksgiving is a special one, because my daughter turns six years old. Almost six years ago, she was born the day before Thanksgiving, so this is a year her birthday falls on the actual holiday. Looking back, I would have never imagined this trajectory for my life. The time she's been with …
5 Things I’m Continuing from Off Grid Life
Have you ever taken a trip or done a reset that left you rejuvenated, only to find yourself back into the same familiar, energy-draining patterns once you returned to everyday life? I've been there. Likely, we've all been there. Our first season living on our new alpine off-grid property was …