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A year and a half ago Kate* gave birth for the first time to her daughter. She will not hesitate to tell you she hated being pregnant. She also doesn’t hesitate to tell you what so few will, the enormous frustrations, guilt and changes required to be the mom she wants to be.
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In 1998 Kristen was 27 years old. She was a triathlete, a mountain biker, a skier and a surgical scrub tech. She was visiting her parents when an emergency trip to the hospital ended with a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. For over five years she attempted to cope with the intermittent and debilitating symptoms (exacerbations) [...]
Maria Ross was 35. Her life was insanely busy. Unknown to her there was a small bulge in a blood vessel, known as an aneurysm growing in her brain. On August 4th, 2008 it ruptured. Here is a bit of her story.
Where were you when your aneurysm ruptured?
The month prior to it happening [...]
Jeff Klein moved to Detroit 15 years ago. He moved there for music. He quickly found himself immersed in Detroit’s agriculture and landscape scene. A decade and a half later he is a voice and leader within this community. In April, he will be opening Detroit’s first and only farm, garden and landscape supply facility [...]
Lane knew her whole life she would be a mom. At 22 years old Lane divorced her husband. Six months later she came out. Nine years later she and her wife Melissa are raising their one and a half year old daughter. Here is a bit of her story.
What were your general concerns of [...]
Kristen was born an artist and educated a marketer. When her son was born she wanted out of the corporate 9 to 5.
After trying different things, she decided to start a business selling her art. The first four months sales were bleak. Then she got the idea to make handcrafted signs. Two months later [...]
Anushka and Eric got married in May 2010. Their honeymoon? A one year trip around the world with eight of these 12 months spent traveling 23 countries in Africa. In eight months they would travel through the majority of the West, East and Southern African countries. Their favorite places may surprise you. Here is a [...]
10 everyday people, 10 goals, 10 incredible stories of deciding (and succeeding) in living better.
1. Lose weight –
In 2007, while Beth Terry was recovering from surgery she stumbled across an article with a photo of an albatross whose stomach was filled with everyday plastic items she regularly used. It hit her like nothing ever had. The picture drove her to the decision of getting plastic out of her life to the absolute [...]
The Mongol Rally is from London to Mongolia. It is an unsupported, unguided, save your own ass — trip of a lifetime. The purpose? To see if you, your teammates and your 1.2 liter car can make it and to raise money for charity.
The first time Sherry Ott heard of it she was hooked. [...]
Dr. Stephanie, is a licensed psychologist in private practice. She has helped many different clients overcome a number of personal hurdles. I spent an hour talking to Dr. Stephanie about both the issues she discusses most frequently these days and her thoughts on some of the more challenging aspects of relationships.
Here is a bit [...]
Andy Peck was looking for a place to write. He thought somewhere aesthetically pleasing and free of charge sounded nice. When he found a multi-million pound Spanish mountain retreat and neither him nor the owners could believe their luck, he thought he might be able to make a business out of this.
Here is a [...]
Craig planned to go on vacation to Cambodia for about three weeks. While he was there, he
was having such a great time he extended his trip by a few days. He was only back in the United States for a few weeks before he decided he [...]
Rufus Haucke was a chair lift operator in Winter Park, Colorado. Over time, he found himself gravitating towards gardening and thoughts of his family farm. In 2004, when his father put the family farm up for sale, Rufus decided to give it a go.
Here is a [...]
For 16 years Catherine has studied, worked and lived food. I have yet to meet research she is unaware of, a health issue she can’t provide dietary advice for or a recipe she can’t fix. Five years ago she decided to be a vegetarian. Two years [...]
Diane and Blair sold everything and went traveling. About seven months into their trip they went to India. They planned to stay for months. After three weeks they wanted to leave.
Here is a bit of their story.
How was it that you decided to go to India?
Diane: Basically on the name [...]
Frank Oden was a heavy smoker for 30 years. When hypnosis helped him kicked this three decade long habit, Frank’s entire life changed. In 2005, after three years of training, Frank opened a private hypnotherapy practice. In the last 6 years, he has used hypnosis, combined with [...]
Most people go to the beach for a week in the summer. Mike Valigore & Kelly Hatch went to Sub-Saharan Africa — for 4.5 months.
While the rest of us were sipping mojitos in lounge chairs, Mike and Kelly were getting charged by elephants, swimming with great [...]
The original plan was to retire early. Then, Betsy Talbot’s brother had a heart attack. And a close friend, a brain aneurysm.
Betsy and her husband Warren, suddenly had a new perspective on life.
The longest vacation they had ever been on was a week. They decided [...]
In 1993, Julie was driving to have dinner with her sister when a teenager ran a red light and went through her driver side door. She was hit so hard that the majority of her brain stem severed from her head. When she arrived at the hospital she had no blood pressure or brain activity. [...]
Jean is 57. She has never been married and never had children. She never thought about being marriage or having a life partner until now.
Here is a bit of her story.
Did you consciously choose not to marry and not to have children, or is that the way that your life played out?
It’s [...]
Patricia had a two-year job contract in Paris. It was a great opportunity for her, but not for her husband. They decided she would move to Paris while he stayed in Toronto. Four months after returning to Toronto, her husband moved to San Francisco — for two years.
Here is a bit of her story…
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As a wedding planner Robyn Bruns of Red Letter Event Planning helps create the perfect day for Chicago couples. In doing so, she learns a quite a bit about the bride, the groom, and their tastes in flowers, venues and entrees. Sometimes, however, she learns things about couples and their future marriage that perhaps they [...]
There was a time when Betsy thought she was supposed to have kids, but never a time when she really wanted them. In her 20′s she made the decision to not have children of her own. She is comfortable with her decision. Others are not. When birth [...]
Tammy and Kyle have been in a relationship for twenty years. Together they have two daughters, run a business and own property. Tammy describes Kyle as “the person she loves most in life,” yet she never wants to marry him.
Here is a bit of her story.
Why have you never married?
In my mind [...]
Deb is in her mid-fifties. She retired at 45. She is now an artist living with her husband in the mountains of Colorado. Over thirty years ago she decided not to have children. Now three decades later she is defying the adage of “you will regret not having kids when you are older.”
Here is [...]
In August 1991, Troy Davis was convicted and sentenced to death row for a crime he maintains he did not commit – the 1989 murder of Mark MacPhail, a Savannah police officer. During Davis’ trial neither a weapon nor any physical evidence were ever provided. Davis was found guilty based solely on the [...]
Sarah has worked in nude modeling on and off since the 80’s. She did it to put herself through college and to later support herself as she started her own therapy practice. Money was not the only reason she did this – she also used nude modeling [...]
Charlene got started in the phone sex industry 27 years ago when she responded to an ad that read, “Conversationalist. Adult Talk. Work from Home.” She makes about $5 for every 15 minutes she spends talking and listening to phone sex addicts, guys who want to have sex with their mothers and guys who are [...]
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is diagnosed in veterans, victims of terrorist attacks, rape, kidnapping, torture, abuse, plane crashes and violent assault. The symptoms and side effects of PTSD include among other things, flashbacks, loss of interest in life, emotional detachment, outbursts of anger, intense distress and at [...]
Since childhood Kofi wanted to see the United States. His ultimate arrival would be preceded by the murder of his brother and followed by both a love of his new country and a deep frustration over the prejudice he found…in the most unlikely of places.
Here is a bit of his story.
How was [...]
Rebecca is a dear, dear friend of mine. When we met, we became quick friends. I have never known her to be anything other than supportive, trustworthy, lovable and fun. In my opinion, the questions I asked are somewhat common things to wonder when you are not familiar with alcoholism. Her responses, however, were [...]
Ken went to Vietnam the way many did — involuntarily. For a large part of the year and a half he was there, the U.S. military decided he was to be a sniper. Someone whose sole job was to psychologically dismantle the enemy, to play mind games with them, to instill fear in them — [...]
Amsterdam’s Red Light district consists of street after street, alley after alley lined with windows occupied by women of every age, ethnicity and body type. After six months of witnessing this, I had to know how it worked. How they worked. What these women in the windows thought. What they did. What they didn’t do. [...]
Carley wanted to teach in Africa. The Peace Corps wanted her in Zimbabwe. Mugabe wanted her (and every other white person) out.
Here is a bit of her story.
Zimbabwe is going through a lot these days. What was it like when you were there?
I was there in late 1999 – early 2000. Zimbabwe [...]
Michiee’s very tall and extremely slender body is one that women envy and men as he tells me, yes, even the straight ones, find themselves enamored by. It would take an effort not to love him. In fact, in the few hours I spent with him I quickly realized it was hard for almost everyone [...]
I have spent the last 5 months walking, running and stumbling past the “women in the windows” in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. The questions that ran through my head were never ending and never answered. One day, I just had to stop and ask. This is [...]
Somewhere, somehow, and probably more than once – you have screwed up – big time. As doing so is practically a prerequisite to adulthood, it is likely that many of your super sized screw-ups occurred at a relatively young age.
Now, imagine if just one of those [...]
Melissa Bank has struck again. Five years after the enormously successful Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing she has delivered her second book, The Miracle Spot. With the heart and humor that fans have grown to love, Bank brings us Sophie Applebaum, a young woman from Surrey, Pennsylvania whose misadventures in love, life, career [...]
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