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Threads of LOVE

During the 1960s, the word “love” publicly became somewhat of a counterculture term due to the anti-Vietnam war movement. In 1970, the year I was born, Robert Indiana [née Clark] created his original, now-iconic monumental LOVE sculpture, which belongs to The Indianapolis Museum of Art. It’s on display inside on the second floor (after many […]

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Letters From Love: the backstory

In early December, 2023, my daughter Alex and her girlfriend Morgan were in town for a wedding. Our dear friend Iva and her beautiful mother Nadia also came for a visit. Alex said, “Iva, you should be on Liz Gilbert’s Letters From Love!” Iva replied with a wink, “December 24th!” This was the first time […]

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Let’s Close the Void

In Steve!, a Steve Martin documentary, Martin’s friend and artist Eric Fischl says, “[Art] comes from that deep awareness of the void — and the nature of the drive of art is to close that void.” Steve’s documentary is a beautiful love poem to his daughter (this is my interpretation after viewing it during several […]

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Notes on Self Love

In my former Pilates studio, the chiropractor with whom I shared an office placed a scale in the hall. I was mortified and immediately created the sign above.  This message, “This scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. That’s it. It cannot measure beauty, talent, character, purpose, possibility, strength, […]

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Dan Wakefield, A Tribute to a Friend

Dan Wakefield didn’t swear on Sundays. He hadn’t owned a car since an accident in Miami over fifteen years ago. He enjoyed good company, excellent conversation, and readily expressed aggravation towards technology — his nemesis. Dan was my mentor, my friend, and Chief Curmudgeon in my life for over a decade. One evening, while Dan […]

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The Price of Unconditional Love

My first experience with unconditional love happened the moment I saw my beautiful daughter, Alexandra. I thought I knew what love was, but I instantaneously realized that I had known nothing about love until the moment I held her in my arms. One of the miracles of having children is their instant ability to expand […]

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Milestones

Starting last August, the social media posts of parents celebrating their high school seniors began. For my own mental health, I had to mute a few friends so I wouldn’t see their posts. There have been, and I assume there will continue to be, many painful reminders that my son Jake should be experiencing, but […]

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Shift

In what feels like a lifetime ago, I owned a Pilates studio. It not only served as a fun place to workout, it was a networking hub, and to a great extent — my lifeline during a challenging period of my life.  Outside of writing about fitness, most of the human interest stories that I […]

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A Record Scratch

10 years ago I interviewed a WWII veteran named Bob. Bob is one of thousands of individuals that I have interviewed over the years, and no one has impacted my life like he has. He lived alone, was a widower, had macular degeneration, and was nearing his 90th birthday when I first met him.  At […]

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The Interview That Inspired a Love Story

Every love story begins somewhere. Mine began ten years ago in the den of a widowed WWII veteran named Bob Albright.  As a journalist, I have the privilege of listening to and speaking with fascinating people. I’ve interviewed thousands of subjects for human interest stories, but none compare to my experience with Bob. I wanted […]

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