One fun thing I’ve started doing about once a month is introducing myself here. This community is growing, and I love getting to know you and your story and inviting you into mine.
So I’ll share the basics: I’m a writer, teacher, and speaker with four-ish books to my name (that’s the traditionally published ones, then I have some others that are self-published). I mostly write at the intersection of disability and spirituality, with a fair amount of additional attention on family, healing, and culture. My husband Peter and I live in Connecticut with our three kids, Penny (who has Down syndrome), William, and Marilee. We are in the tween/teen years and loving it. And also feeling challenged every day!
And I’ll share some quirky details:
1. I read a whole lot of books all the time.
I prefer paperbacks. I break the spines of books and underline in them (though only in black ink). I just finished (and really liked) Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, Atomic Habits by James Clear, and Stranger Care by Sarah Sentilles. I’m in the midst of The Person You Mean to Be by Dolly Chugh, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership by Ruth Haley Barton, and tonight I will start The Road by Cormac McCarthy, which my husband just passed my way. (I’ve avoided reading McCarthy for years. The bleakness scares me. But Peter says this one is a must.)
Do you have any must-reads on your list right now?
2. I am an early riser.
Most days that means 5:15, without an alarm. This morning it meant 4:55. I can’t imagine what my college self would think. Back then, I routinely avoided 9am classes because that was my typical time to get out of bed! (I also take regular 20-minute naps with my head nestled in my arms on my desk.)
Are you an early riser or a late riser?
3. I was recently asked (by one of you!) what five people—living or dead—I would want to have dinner with.
She prompted me with Flannery O’Connor, and then I added James Baldwin, Michelle Obama, Helen Keller and C.S. Lewis.
Who would you want as your dinner companions?
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