If “I believe you” are the three most powerful words you can say to someone with an invisible illness, four of the hardest or most painful words to absorb—whether they are said directly or communicated indirectly through insensitive behavior—are “I don’t believe you.” And yet, people who live with depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders...
My friend is waiting for a table at a local restaurant. She is one of those table stalkers, who intuitively knows who is getting up when. She’s been hovering over a certain table for a good half hour. She is most certain the table is hers until some guy comes out of left field and...
The best piece of marital advice I’ve ever heard came from an ex-priest, a kind and gentle man that has been married to his bride for longer than I’ve been alive. “Always err on the side of compassion,” he told me when I called him up all upset one afternoon after my husband and I...
My husband asked me this morning how I slept. I wasn’t sure if I should tell him the truth. Yesterday was a bad day in a string of good days, which feels like a blizzard the first week of April. Aren’t we done with this? By the time we connected at dinner, I had meditated...
One autumn morning in 2005, I dropped my kids off at preschool and immediately broke down in tears. Pushing an empty double stroller down a few houses to avoid the other preschool moms, I dialed up the number of my writing (and life) mentor and dear friend, Mike Leach. I stayed there, on the sidewalk,...
