When I asked Elle my golden question, “What have you learned about love from this experience?” she got teary eyed with me. And I realized I wasn’t the only one who felt love so deeply. We reflected together on how a lot of our world has been chaotic lately. However, even when disasters strike, there are still good people in the world that want to help out. Elle has created three Amazon lists to help people out. Her most recent followed the Road 203 fire. A year ago, Elle cre

During this week’s conversation about love, I was immediately intrigued when Sylvester led our talk by suggesting that love is not just an emotion. Love is everything we do daily. This concept has sat with me for many years since my near death experience. It was refreshing to talk with someone else who sees life similarly. But where did he get this idea from? After years of working with people with disabilities and foster kids, Sylvester’s wife noticed all the love he was po

The Red String Theory suggests that there is a red string tied to two people beginning at birth who are destined to be together. They may even run into one another before the time is right to connect. Maybe they live in the same city, go on vacation to the same place at the same time, or attend the same party but never say anything before the time is right. It suggests that no matter what life will bring them together in the end. Paige and Mark’s story begins like this. They

“Belonging is not fitting in; it’s being accepted for being yourself.” - Brene Brown Until March of 2024, Jake Moore didn’t know his biological parents. He was adopted before he was even a year old. Then at age six he was put into the foster care system due to his adopted parent’s struggle with addiction. He stayed there until he was fourteen and adopted again to a loving and strict family. It is safe to say that Jake struggled with belonging for most of his life since he did

To be a Schoone is to be strong, independent, and hard working. Overall, I am super grateful for these values being passed down to me. But it's come to my attention that sometimes it's hard for me to ask for help or accept help because of them. Back in 2023, life made it a point for me to learn a new way of life. Overall, it was a really good year for me as this was the year I really started to find community in San Diego even though I moved there in August of 2021. However,

Adulthood usually brings boring everyday tasks, daunting routines, and unforeseen and often unwanted changes. Which bring us questions like why are we here? What keeps us going? Where is the meaning in all of this? Ham ended our conversation by sharing that he believes we are not put on this earth to just simply live for ourselves. We are put here to make this world a better place not only for our kids but our kid’s kid’s kid’s… He believes that purpose doesn’t have to be big

While teaching a class to a group of prisoners, Hannah was writing on the white board with her back turned away from them. One spoke up, “Why is your back turned away from us, don’t you know we’re prisoners?” Hannah smiled and turned around, “What are you going to do? Kill me?” They all laughed together. This is a seemingly simple and funny scenario. But behind the scenes, this was one of the few experiences of love for some of these inmates. The feeling of being trusted is o

Sometimes it takes years to build a friendship with someone. Developing trust and breaking down walls usually just takes time. Then one day, we meet someone and within five minutes we feel we have known them for our entire lives. They just recognize the real us. The person we hide behind all the armour and facades we put up. It’s almost as though we have known each other in other lifetimes . Sometimes life even gets in the way and we won't talk for months . Just to pick thing

For those of us mourning someone, we often find ourselves with a lot of unanswered questions. Why do bad things happen to good people? Will life ever be the same after we lose someone? Does grief ever just go away? Will we ever be able to feel true happiness after someone we love passes on? And are we betraying them when we decide to move on? Jenna, who is just 22 years old, has lost her sister, brother, and her father to Huntington's disease. I had the privilege to sit down

Logan has one of those rare energies that makes anyone feel safe. Almost as though he has been through some things and could never judge someone else for anything because he has faced his own pain. Even though he is fully aware of all the bad in the world he has taken it upon himself to believe in the good day after day. Maybe because he himself throws love and kindness around like confetti. During our call, our main topic of conversation regarded this unhoused person he sha

It’s around 8pm when the garage door opens signaling your husband is home for work. You, your son, and daughter run to bed to fake sleep. This lasts for about an hour until he is passed out on the couch from drinking. By now, you and your kids have learned that dad is not a safe place. On nights like this, it is much safer to fake sleep rather than try to hold a civil conversation with him. For years, this is how Audrey lived her daily life before finally being able to divor

What does it look like to talk about motherhood and womanhood in a real and honest way? How does it actually reshape your identity? No false toxic positivity behind it highlighting only the pregnancy glow and opportunity to hold life inside your womb. While also not having to lose yourself and sacrifice everything in the process. We hear from V in this column and how her daily mantra, “I’m that b****” has helped her be a better mom for daughter and a better person for her man

When I first hopped on a Zoom call with Gabby, her smile and warmth instantly greeted me. Our previous messages had me excited to learn why she loves strangers as much as I do. Since she has one of those light and uplifting personalities, I never would have guessed she was going to share such a traumatic story with me. At the young age of 15 years old, Gabby was told she could never have children due to hormone imbalances, PCOS, and some other things. This broke her heart be

In 2023, 49,319 Americans died by suicide. Men made up 80 percent of that number making it roughly 39,000 men dying by suicide just in that one year. I had the privilege of talking with Gabino about how his childhood friendship saved him countless times from this idea that as a man he had to suffer in silence . This friendship started when they were eight years old after Gabino saw some kids being mean to Squeaky. He thought, "He's weird and I'm different, we could be good fr

What keeps us away from reconnecting with family? What happens if it doesn't turn out how we planned and what happens if it turns out even better than we imagined? Does reconnecting lead to more loss or more love? Does new love fill the void of former love? Each year nearly 75,000 to 100,000 kids are adopted in the United States. These kids all have a conversation that some of us never experience- "We are not your real parents." In the 1970's, Mark was one of these kids. Whil