My first few days in Siem Reap,Cambodia knocked me off kilter. Poverty is in your face: children are at your feet, men without limbs are dragging themselves along the street, women are begging you to purchase their wares so they can feed their family, and babies are crying. The clothes are dirty, the words are…
Sitting in a small Siem Reap cafe, I overheard a conversation about a place called HAVEN. It sounded outstanding: a restaurant that trains local young adults and then places them in jobs where they can use their skills to create a life for themselves. Ideal. Braving the fear of rejection, I wrote to the owners…
Nothing can explain the way I feel when I see the golden sun sweep over the heavy grape vines of October in California’s central coast. There aren’t words poetic enough to explain the tranquil beauty of the gorgeous Pacific waves crashing on our shores. No foreign place will ever make my heart sing the way…
Preparing a salad in Portugal I was stopped mid-slice by a woman who put her hand on mine, and told me to stop wasting. I was shocked, hurt, and even offended. “Waste? I’m not wasting- I’m cutting an apple!”
2006. I’ve been quiet lately- I apologize, but my brain has been a whirlwind. I am alive, well, and working in Lisbon, Portugal. As I have not been tethered to a computer for the last few weeks, I have had time to think, to write, and to pay attention to what I have learned thus…
Friends, you all have your own dreams and paths you have to follow. I wish for each of you to feel as certain of your way and the burning desire to wake up and start tomorrow as you lay in bed that I feel.