It has been six years since my mom passed away. For my siblings and me, that means both our parents are gone. It’s a strange club to belong to. My dad died in 2009 from lung cancer. When he was diagnosed in 2007, the first thing I did was what most people do... I looked up the prognosis. Doctor Googles estimated two to five years. Instead of coming to the United States for a family reunion and his 70th birthday, my dad canceled the trip, returned the plane tickets, and checke

Human connection is essential to survival. Even the most introverted among us still need community, belonging, and people who know our stories. Friends. Family. Chosen family. People who show up. I have no biological family in Rochester, yet somehow I’ve built a wide network of people here. Within that circle is a much smaller group of close friends who are family in every meaningful sense of the word. That community is one of the reasons I’ve been able to thrive here. For ma

Forgiveness is a strange thing. We like to think forgiveness means pretending something didn’t happen. Like if we say the words out loud, the past somehow disappears. But that’s not really what forgiveness is. Forgiveness doesn’t erase what happened. Forgiveness is about letting go of what we’re still carrying. Not for them. For us. It’s about reclaiming space in our hearts, in our bodies, and in our spirits. It’s about making peace with our own choices, even the ones that hu