Did you ever feel like everyone else was handed a guidebook at birth — and somehow you didn’t get one? In high school, a girl announced she'd be married by 25 and have a baby before 27. And I found out at our ten year reunion — she did just that. In college, everyone seemed to know their major by October of freshman year — and actually stick to it, and land a job at a big firm before graduation. I stood aside, mouth open. How did they do that? How did they know? They were mak

I woke up the other morning to Barry’s worried face hovering over the bed, coffee mug in one hand and his phone in the other. He glanced from the screen to me and the dog, still in a nest of winter blankets, and said, “Well, it looks like we’re at war with Iran.” Suddenly it was as if the cold outside had moved inside me. I pulled the dog closer and told Barry I’d be down to make breakfast in a minute, filing the words “war with Iran” in the same mental drawer as all the othe

The Season of “Giving Something Up” Every Saturday morning, a Brady Bunch grid of faces pops up on my laptop for our women’s Zoom recovery meeting—a mix of recovery, emotional growth, and “tell the truth about your life” space. I pick a theme, throw three questions onto a virtual backdrop, and we spend an hour telling the truth about our lives. This week, the calendar handed me an easy theme: Lent. If you grew up Catholic, you know the drill. We “give something up.” Chocolate