Braised fennel pasta with Josée's fresh spring onions in lemon pepper sauce with Riesling from The Columbia Valley. Good food. Always. — Braised fennel pasta with Josée's fresh spring onions in lemon pepper sauce with Riesling from The Columbia Valley. Good food. Always.

Music lesson in the bus with DanB. — Music lesson in the bus with DanB.

Everywhere I go, I meet someone I know. It used to drive me nuts that I could not just run to the grocery store with my pj on or go on a coffee date and be anonymous. Now, maybe because I live anonymously for most of the year, I love it.

I am also extremely grateful for this amazing community of friends that welcomed me back with open arms.

They take my girls on bike trips and pool outings. They feed them and hug them. Most of them have held them when they were only little babies and I had my arms full (oh did I have my arms full!). Now, those tiny babies that once were, are wipping meringues together, creating dance shows for us and playing for hours on end while we catch up on the last year. Friends. What a gift.

“Empathy’s the antidote to shame. The two most powerful words when we’re in struggle: me too. ”

-Brene Brown