So, let’s start with a simple yet daunting question that someone will inevitably ask us anyway: Are you happy? Not in a I’m-entertained-and-enjoying-this-fleeting-moment sort of way, but in a deeper way, a long-lasting way. Are you fulfilled, content with your life’s meaning? Is your soul full and warm and restful, knowing perfectly well that someday you are going to die?

Hello family! So, it looks like Spring may finally be arriving. This winter was only my second that I’ve ever spent in Chicago, and goodness gracious did it feel long and cold. I cannot wait for the sunshine to return more fully. In the spirit of Spring, I was reading one of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver; she loved nature and wrote on the natural world often.

April is here! April means showers and gardening and spring-cleaning. The thought of spring-cleaning scares me a little. I know how much I have accumulated over the years. I know I am hanging on to a lot of things, thinking that I might need them one day. But the truth is, there are some boxes we have never opened in the last four years.