One summer night I had a dream, and my late mother was there. She’s been gone almost 20 years, but in my dream she was very much alive, her hair the same reddish-brown tint I remembered growing up. I was hosting a party and noticed that someone had spilled...
This summer, when our family was on vacation in a foreign country, one of my children came down with a virus. She was feverish and dizzy and felt terrible — and I could feel my own anxiety spiking. When she woke up in the night I sat with her,...
It’s a challenging time to be a freelance journalist. Last month, BuzzFeed announced it was closing its news division and laying off close to 200 people. And this is no anomaly: Magazines and newspapers have been suffering a slow death for years. One day in the near future, I...
We all like to think we have some control over our lives. Maybe that's why "cancer battle" language is so widespread in popular culture....
Like a bear in winter, I’ve been in a version of hibernation these days. It’s as if Ingrid Michaelson is seeing directly into my soul with her song “Keep Breathing,” which includes the lyrics: “I want to change the world. Instead, I sleep.” Mastering sloth mode (as a friend...
