Dinner was beautiful. A nice evening, bold flavors, shared stories of challenge & success, and laughter with friends who are in simlar trenches. The meal came with this quote came tucked in tableware: “Work. Keep digging your well. Water is there somewhere.” It stayed with me—not just because it...

A couple of weeks ago, I had the gift of facilitating a panel discussion with seasoned leaders in academic family medicine — people whose careers span decades, whose influence is immeasurable. I asked them to name a single word or phrase that captured what contributed to their longevity in this w...

Most Sunday mornings during the pandemic, I logged on to a zoom call to do strength training with a group of women physicians led by Dr. Ali Novitsky (photo above) or her team of coaches. She combined mindset work with bodywork. On particular workout stands out to me. She told us we were finishin...

Just prior to marrying the man in this photo (throwback to big hair 😂), his dad handed us an article torn out of a magazine. It used comparative imagery of two rivers coming together to describe marriage. The takeaway gist in my young mind was 1. Don't be shocked by the rapids, which are a natura...

I took training very seriously for my first 1/2 marathon (the Mayor's half in Anchorage) back in 2016. My friend Lana (wearing the blue tank) was a seasoned runner who thought my schedule was overly structured and intense. She'd run several halves and a few marathons. Still, I insisted, that we s...

We were only a little over 2 hours into our hike, and my feet were killing me. It was my first backpacking trip through Crow Pass. We had knocked out 3 of the 23 miles and 2000 ft elevation gain after work Friday afternoon. We set up camp by Crystal Lake. I was so uncomfortable that I wondered if...