Heart To Heart

I was just setting the last pan of roast lamb on the dining table when my phone lit up with his name. Nolan. At that hour he was supposed to be “working late at the office.” I wiped my hands on a dish towel and answered, already rehearsing the usual small talk in my head. … Read more

Waking up in the middle of the night is something almost everyone experiences from time to time. But when it becomes frequent, it can leave you feeling groggy, unfocused, and frustrated the next morning. The good news is that, with a few small changes, you can support better sleep quality and enjoy more restful nights. … Read more

I have lived long enough to understand that families rarely break apart in loud, dramatic ways. More often, they unravel softly, thread by thread, until one day you find yourself standing in a moment you never imagined. That was certainly true the afternoon my daughter married my former husband — a moment I thought would … Read more

The day I learned my grandfather had left me his five-million-dollar estate, I thought the biggest adjustment would be practical. Attorneys. Accounts. Estate paperwork. The kind of serious, grown-up details that come with an inheritance, especially one built through decades of real estate success around Chicago. What I did not expect was a family lawsuit … Read more

After my grandmother Evelyn died, I assumed the hardest part would be sorting through her house. Not the big tasks, like calling the utility companies or meeting with the attorney, but the quiet ones. Folding the last stack of linens. Packing up her favorite mug. Standing in the kitchen where she used to hum while … Read more

There are moments in life that divide everything into before and after. You don’t realize it when they’re happening. You only understand later, when you look back and see how sharply the road split beneath your feet. For me, that moment came the day I opened a hotel room door and saw something my heart … Read more

There are nights that divide your life into before and after. You don’t recognize them when they begin. They arrive quietly, disguised as ordinary moments, until something happens that changes how you see everything. For me, that night started with groceries. I remember the weight of the bags cutting into my fingers as I unlocked … Read more

There are some people who enter your life so quietly that you don’t realize, at first, how completely they will change you. Grace was one of those people for me. She didn’t arrive with fanfare or ceremony. She arrived holding her mother’s hand, peeking out from behind her leg, her wide brown eyes studying me … Read more

Grief does strange things to time. The days after my husband passed blurred together, as if the world had been wrapped in cotton. Sounds were muted. Colors dulled. Even my own thoughts felt distant, like they belonged to someone else. I moved through the house slowly, touching familiar objects, whispering his name into rooms that … Read more