Livin’ Life

As 2015 comes to an end, for the first time in two years, I’m looking back on a year filled with joy, wonder, a year where I resumed my life and my life with Libby. I understand and appreciate simple things like going to the supermarket together or cooking...

It’s The People That Make A Place, Isn’t It?

  Libby and I moved to Modena, Italy three and a half years ago. Because of getting treated for cancer in the US, I was only here for a little over one and a half of those years. As much as Italy drove me crazy when we moved here because I missed China so much,...

What A Difference A Year Makes

  On this day last year Ramleen and Emily came over for lunch. We chatted while we ate and Emily breastfed Charlotte who was about two and a half months old at the time. I looked at the slight hint of ginger peach fuzz on Charlotte’s head and thought thank...

When You Don’t Really Need Words

This is Daria, the kindest person in Modena, Italy. She works at the most incredible salumeria (deli) I’ve ever been to, Hosteria Giusti, http://www.hosteriagiusti.it. Behind the deli is a small six table restaurant you have to walk through the kitchen to get...

Farther Along

I love The Flying Burrito Brothers and their version of “Farther Along” is my all-time favorite. I’ve listened to that song since I was in my 20’s, for almost 40 years now. Am I really that old?! Yes, yes I am, and after the year I just went...

Goodbye, 2014. Hello, Gorgeous, 2015.

Some mornings I wake up and and ask myself have I really spent this whole year dealing with cancer? Me? After all I’ve been through this year–the waiting, the worry, the uncertainty, finally a proper diagnosis, a lumpectomy and axillary dissection, chemo,...