At 32, I felt surrounded and out of bullets. Not literal bullets. Lies. Excuses. Promises I could no longer keep. Stories I had told my family, my kids, and myself until even I could hear how hollow they sounded. After 14 years of heavy drinking and substance abuse, I had reached the place I always thought I was too smart, too strong, or too loved to land. My family was terrified. My parents and siblings could see what I had become before I could admit it. My children were co

I'm 74 years old, and I'm just getting started. I don't have a degree on my wall. I'm not a therapist or a life coach. What I have is 42 years of living through things and coming out the other side — sometimes barely, sometimes with more grace than I expected. Forty-two years ago was a rebirth. Not a finish line, not a cure — a beginning. Everything since has been me learning how to live from that new place. That's why I started Unanchored. Right now, I'm a caregiver for some

Two weeks of paid vacation can feel like a miracle when you have spent years raising children, paying bills, working hard, and trying to hold everything together. For a long time, that was my life. I was a single mother raising two children, working year after year, doing what needed to be done. Vacations were not something I took for granted. They were something I saved for, hoped for, and dreamed about. When I finally put together two full weeks of paid vacation, I felt lik

Both are connected by water, but they offer different kinds of wonder. A lake makes you feel still. The ocean makes you feel wide open. Since that first cruise, I have taken about 20 cruises. these days, I solo cruise. That surprises some people, but solo cruising has given me freedom, confidence, and space to enjoy the world at my own pace. However, please take precautions to protect yourself from germs, wipe down everything. My last cruise 3 months ago, I came down with pne

The camping trips from those early years still live in my family. We still talk about them with smiles and laughter. That alone tells me they mattered. Children may forget many things, but they remember how life felt. They remember when a parent made time and when they didn't. They remember the funny discomforts, the small disasters, the shared meals, the water, the people, and the joy. I think back to that 1980 Toyota Corolla, packed so full that my children were wedged betw