This is Between Business Cards

I’m navigating life—one foot stuck in the mud, the other trying to pull free.

Like you, I’ve held a lot of roles: sibling, employee, spouse, healthy person and one facing illness. Some of those titles even made it onto my business cards. But life has a way of editing our identities—whether we’re ready or not.

Over time, my roles changed. I was divorced. My parents passed. I experienced painful estrangements and major illness. And through it all—showing up, struggling, transitioning—I found unexpected lifelines: family, friends, books, projects and small, quiet gestures that kept me afloat.

This isn’t a self-help blog. It’s more of a help-yourself-while-I-stumble-through blog. It’s about the collective us—the ones trying to unstick ourselves from the mire of shifting identities, expectations, and grief. Sometimes with grace, sometimes with grit, and often with a little humor.

At a party once, a newly found friend asked me what I did. I had just been “involuntarily separated” from my job.

I replied, “I’m between business cards.”

They laughed.

And so—with a bit of self-deprecation, a dash of fear, and a commitment to truth-telling—this is where I share some of my stories.

Maybe they’ll meet you somewhere in the middle of your own.

A few moments of gratitude. First, for my husband, who as my amazing life partner, not only appears in some of these tales, but spent many hours editing my writing. (He is my HIE aka human intelligence editor!). Thank you to my brother-in-law, John, who patiently guided me through the technical components of blog posting. Thank you to my children for their unending encouragement and support. Thank you to my sisters and friends whose stories make me laugh and make me stronger. And thank you Mom and Dad. As you fly around in heaven’s skies, I hope you are proud.