“You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you’ll escape one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.” ― John Green, Looking for Alaska My youngest sister, Yamila, is into puzzles. She has seasonal puzzles, strategic puzzles, and …
When my firstborn son, Matthew, was a baby, we took him to get his immunizations. When the nurse came in with the injections, she saw us holding a happy baby who smiled constantly as if he didn’t have a care in this world. Then she gave him the shot, and the look of love and happiness quickly turned into horror and pain. He …
“We have lost those we hold dearest. But we will endure the pain, for we have each other. Don’t we?” – King Jeongjo, The Red Sleeve After healing from a few weeks of sickness, I received a message that my oldest sister had been taken to the hospital with a concussion after suffering a fall when she fainted at her …
After a long and successful open heart surgery, we were about to call my sons on Skype. It was time to see each other and hear one another’s voices. I was beyond excited, but right before I heard the ringing on the other line, my brain went completely blank and I couldn’t remember my sons’ names. It took me a …
It was 3:00am and I was still wide awake, staring at the ceiling and trying to solve the world’s problems with every sheep I counted. I’m used to insomnia and the battle of the mind, so it is no surprise that I found myself just going through the motions — typical for my sleepless nights. It’s funny how the mind …
We must understand that sadness is an ocean, and sometimes we drown, while other days we are forced to swim. – R. M. Drake Growing up in Puerto Rico, my family spent New Year’s Eve at church welcoming in the New Year with prayer and meditation. Then, after a collective countdown and at midnight, we would hug, kiss, and cry. …
From home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another. The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other. – Emily Matthews It’s Christmas season once again! This year, I get to spend Christmas home with family and close friends back in the United States given that, thanks to COVID and its variants, my …
I remember as a child how much I enjoyed playing with Barbies. They were my favorite childhood toy, but I also remember hugging the “life” out of a Raggedy Ann doll I had. At one point I even dressed up as Raggedy Ann for a play at church. The one thing I found fascinating was the red hair (or red …
Aside from those suffering with allergies, I think most people feel special when they wear perfume or cologne. I must admit that I am one of those people. From an early age, my mother would not allow my sisters and I to leave the house without putting on perfume (and baby powder… why? No clue). Of course, at the time …
Last week, I kicked off my new series, Chasing Life: Field Notes, with a blogpost about aging. The purpose of this series is to share some of the things I have been doing to make my latter days better than the first. Some of these things include traveling, meeting new people, making and trying new things, and always learning! One …