I Will Be Grateful

Hi friends, we’d like to give you an update from our family and let you know about something that feels important to us. April 19 will mark 5 years since we said goodbye to our 10 year old daughter Norah. When our whole world came crashing down, a community came together from near and far to support us, in too many ways to even begin to write down here. Over

At some point in the first few months following Norah’s death, we were given some words of reassurance. At the time, I wasn’t really ready to hear them, as it almost felt dismissive of our own particular pain. But now I think there was some truth to the statement. “People who have coping skills and mechanisms in place before a trauma generally come through it ok.” Meaning that someone with

Stories we tell ourselves. I keep coming back to this idea. Perhaps it’s because I still find myself feeling unmoored these days. How do I write a narrative about myself and who I am when there is such a big black mark on the page? It’s got me thinking about mythologies, stories we tell to make sense of the world, instruct our lives and inform our beliefs. When we first

After our summer of travel, we are home and transitioning back to school and work life. Yesterday was the 5 month anniversary of Norah’s death. A second ago, a lifetime ago. Time goes in fits and starts. During Norah’s 3 week illness, we would sit by her side and tell her about the world outside. Early April in Charlottesville is a beautiful time, with cherry trees and redbuds just starting

We had one week to travel from White Sulphur Springs, MT to Durango, CO to meet up with The Steel Wheels for one more festival. Draw a (slightly curvy) line between those 2 cities and you hit some of the most iconic national parks in the country, as well as remote and beautiful stretches of highway. We started with Yellowstone, the first and most famous. Of course, we went in

We are driving a 20 year old V10 for thousands of miles around this country, past long coal trains and 300ft tall wind turbines as far as the eye can see. It’s got me thinking about the resources we use. Is this trip a necessary or wise use of money, time, or fossil fuels? Even our fridge runs on propane, for goodness sake. We acknowledge our privilege in having the time,

We eased into our trip with a few shortish drives that got us used to rolling in the truck. The first stop was at the Blue Ridge Music Center, a beautiful outdoor music venue and museum on the Parkway near Galax. From there it was a short jaunt down to Saluda, NC, so we got to explore the area a bit and drive up to Mt Pisgah on the Blue

Today we hit the road for three weeks. In a way this trip will be the centerpiece of our summer of travel and define this period in our lives. It somehow feels important to have something big that we can put a pin in. “The summer after Norah died we did this thing”. It has given us something to look forward to and plan for during a time when it

Today I found a little piece of notepad paper with the words “rainbows and sunshine in a tin can” written by a child’s hand and left on our desk. I found the phrase to be rather poetic. We had spent the morning cleaning out the dust and old wasp nests from our “tin can” travel trailer that we take to the Red Wing Roots Music Festival every year. Nearly a

Our first tour of the summer had us rambling across North Carolina, starting with a few days on the Outer Banks. The Steel Wheels played the Ocrafolk festival on Ocracoke Island, where we were able to grab some beach time. We have fond memories of our times on Ocracoke years ago, and visiting some of the same places gave us a chance to reminisce. More than once we uttered the