India is a country of contrasts. After traveling throughout South India for the past three months, we have witnessed so much poverty, pollution and poetry of existence. It is a beautiful, wretched, aromatic, putrid, nourishing and soul-bleeding place. The wave of emotions evoked by our experiences […]
In autumn, drops of sunlight are metered out for mere moments. During the darkening days of the pending winter, my thoughts turn to sunnier times. Travel to warmer climes is on the horizon. Adventure awaits us in Southern India at the end of December. During […]
Life is a constant undulation, like the ocean itself. We think of the waves as a separate part of its entirety, but my experience is of another. The waves are not only a part of the ocean. They are the ocean itself. When we see […]
In a hotel room outside of Vienna, I discovered that Amazon Prime has the family TV show, This Is Us. Having heard so much about it, I was delighted to watch a few episodes on my laptop with my son. And with every show, I […]
The honeymoon is over. The bubble has popped. Reality slammed me in the face at 6 am this morning. That tender space of suspending thinking, in which you float between the time you return from vacation and the return to the day-to-day, is filled with wonder. Your […]
Life in India is like a mandala. So many pieces and parts, colorful and blending, fitting together in harmony in an ebb and flow of energy and stamina. Nothing reflects that truth like a car ride on an Indian highway. The roads aren’t like the […]
As I inch toward the fifth decade of my life, I have taken pause to reflect on all the places I have been. The list is long. The road has been too. When people ask about my history, I tell them I left home at […]
Plans are a wonderful point of orientation, but like any roadmap, they change over time. New roads are added. Old ones turn to dust. Anyone with an outdated navigation system will tell you not all roads lead to Rome. Sometimes they take you down dead ends […]
Sometimes we must die to be born again. Even the most fragile of us can be resurrected. It just takes the right conditions. This past June my orchid languished in record temperatures while I lounged in the French sun. It wasn’t fair. It was careless. […]
Nothing reveals more about human beings than physical discomfort. Trapped in an overcrowded train with no air conditioning as it stood still on the tracks for over an hour, I realized how quickly things can turn sour when things get a little uncomfortable. People shouted. […]