Columns

Navigating the holidays can be taxing, even in the best of times, even in the best of families. Navigating the holidays with a bleeding disorder adds to the holiday challenge. Navigating the holidays with a bleeding disorder during a global pandemic? Well, that may be a bit…

Want to be happier and more content in life? Embrace change, a study published in The Review of Economic Studies notes. I did a double take when I first read about the study at cnbc.com. Oftentimes, change and contentment are presented as completely opposing ideas. The stereotypically “content”…

It started the fall of my daughter’s sixth-grade year in school. While I had listened to DJ Elliot Segal of the radio talk show “Elliot in the Morning” for nearly 20 years by then, I’d done so mostly solo. My husband found no value in the show, and I…

Before having children, my definition of a season of life did not contain color. Everything appeared black and white. If there was a medical issue, it lasted for a little while and soon passed. Nothing remained for long. The most significant medical problem I faced was when I broke my…

Many people see spring as the season for cleaning. Winter months call for homes to be closed tightly to keep the heat in and the winter chill out. Spring allows for the opening of windows to clean the soot and grime that accumulates over the colder season. I normally do…

People are suffering. The country is divided. States are imposing limits on items that may be purchased, and businesses are closed. If there were ever a year to skip Thanksgiving, this would be it. At least, that is what some people think, but I am not one of them. It…

I visited a hemophilia treatment center for the first time in the 1980s, to have my factor levels tested. The phlebotomist couldn’t find a vein, and I was distraught. Workers ended up pinning me down to get my blood. The result was that my factor…

Lately I’ve been feeling stuck. My life seems to have taken on the appearance of an infinite to-do list. The moment I tick off a box, three more appear. Every day, I am literally out of breath running errand after errand, with the ultimate goal of somehow staying afloat. Bills…

Long a food literature devotee, I continually marvel at the seeming effortlessness with which authors, home chefs, and Michelin triple stars approach the kitchen. Their sense of matter-of-fact wonder at gathering simple or impossible-to-find (except in a French market) ingredients simultaneously fills me with awe and consternation. How did these…

Let’s face it. This year contains one struggle after another. We continue to ask the same questions: “How do we beat this virus? Will I continue to be insured during layoffs? How will I afford quality care for my loved one in the middle of political, medical, and economic turmoil?”…