Part of my spiritual work is learning to live with the knowledge that we can't protect our loved ones from pain and heartache.

When I near the end of a book, it feels as if the entire universe meets me more than halfway and supports me. The whole world seems to shimmer when I find the words. My mind quiets.

Those memories that are engraved within me become teaching tools, ways of connecting with others, of creating an empathic bridge, of reaching out a hand and saying, I've been there, too.

I used to act in television commercials when I was a kid and a young adult.

My son is now fourteen, and from the moment he was born, I understood that forevermore my heart would be walking around outside my body.

I never troll for material. It simply presents itself, and is always unmistakable. This is why I want to roll my eyes when people interrupt themselves in the middle of some story they're telling me to say, "You know you can't write about this."

Part of my spiritual work is learning to live with the knowledge that we can't protect our loved ones from pain and heartache.