Yesterday was my daughter Alix’s baby shower. She stood beside her husband Ben, glowing, her hands resting on Charlie Mae growing inside her. Belle, now eleven, spun around the room in excitement. Alix looked radiant, happy in a way that felt both brand-new and achingly familiar. For a moment she was my little girl again, the one with the big smile and the shy tilt
I add pieces like this in my book between the pages of my letters to my illness. I want others to see what I saw, through my eyes, through the pain, and especially through the people who helped me heal. My healthcare workers weren’t just names on charts. They were my lifelines. A few years ago, I saw one of my doctors in the hallway.
I wish you could see yourself through my lens just once. Because then you would see the beauty that lies beyond the darkness, beyond the restless nights and days of trying again. From my perspective, you would see a world that is worth fighting for. I remember my own world, unable to see beyond the vast emptiness until I tried on others’ view of me.
Positive Affirmations Today, I had the privilege to teach 66 kindergarten students through the DVSA Art Connection Program (Sense of Self) My main objective with teaching is to create a dialogue of well-being through the art-making process. So today, we created the “I Am” mixed medium project tailored to their skill sets, using a crayon resist technique. Before we began, I showed
