Years ago, I flew to Baltimore with my broken leg in a cast, in a wheelchair with the leg extended. My family stood guard around me but an incursion at the gate left me reeling. A woman came barreling up to the agent, in a panic, and smashed my cast with her bag. I saw stars…

I loved helping new families through pregnancy and childbirth as an obstetrical nurse. In addition, the intensity and energy needed for my job, especially in a high-paced unit like labor and delivery, required a level of focus and knowledge that energized me. One of the non-nursing tasks I enjoyed included writing…

I inherited a stack of exquisitely written love letters that my mother had received from her paramour in the South Pacific in WWII. The pages are neat and the care in each swirl of an S or loop of a Y is evidence that love had been injected into every letter…