This year, 2023, was my 23rd mom’s day. And this year is the last time I’ll have breasts on Mother’s Day. Both my breasts produced the first out-of-utero meal, colostrum to my sweet babies and these “liquid gold” nutrients. I remember dragging my tired ass out of bed, in the…

Warning label, if you aren’t a fan of the “F” word, this reflection may NOT be for you. I am a big fan of the F word, and let’s face it, some other 4 letter words. Now, with a diagnosis of breast cancer, expressing F#CK seems crucial to my cure…

Power rests in this title, Survivor. My new friend Natalie confidently says, “being a survivor is a powerful word. We are survivors once we are diagnosed, and I wish more people knew this. We don’t want pity.” In February 2022, at age 39, Natalie found an uninvited lump. This lumpy…

I’m sitting in the waiting room, wearing a hand-made cloth mask with tiny multi-colored bicycles that drift in every direction, just as my mind is. “Count your breath,” I say to myself. “You are going to be ok,” I reassure myself. Occasionally, I make eye contact with another masked face…

On a hot August morning at the edge of Greenwood Pond, where brown grass mingles with green grass, and tree branches with drying leaves flicker above still waters birthing green algae, is where I first meet Brian. Brian smiles warmly and walks with a tenderness in his gait. We spoke…

As we trek above the tree-line, our team spreads out, like a slow drip from a rusty old faucet. The wind cools the heat trapped under my breaker, but still a force so strong I walk sideways and sometimes backwards to shield my face. I fuss at my red buff…

The wind swirls around our aching bodies and our steps slow as we descend from Everest Base Camp. I trail closely behind a young man who days earlier was carrying two backpacks, his and a fellow trekker’s, who was suffering from intense migraines. Today his face is pale and mood…

Michael is the kind of person that sucks you into his energy vortex. In a good way. It’s a whirlpool of authenticity, zest, and creativity. Yet, Michael will be the first to admit, his vortex swirls with some fear. It was partly because of his anxiety, post cancer diagnosis, that…

You can call her T. I do. I also call Teresa Adams-Tomka a friend, mentor, entrepreneur, and leader. She is a humble leader, the kind of leader you find nestled in the back of the long line of trekkers, helping others trudge along a steep path that zig zags up…