Author: Rachel
-
You Can’t Change the Tires on a Moving Car
My car clunked, my dashboard lit up, and I was basically driving on the rim. All before 7 a.m. Turns out, that flat tire had a few things to say about burnout, speed, and why pulling over isn’t the same as giving up. Read more
-
The Fictional Girl Gang That Raised Me
This is for the girls who felt too much, said too much, and dressed like they had better things to do than blend in. The ones who were told to quiet down, grow up, and stay inside the lines but didn’t. The girls with wild imaginations and louder opinions. It’s for the ones who never… Read more
-
The Gas Tank and the Heart
Sometimes love doesn’t come with flowers, grand gestures, or a handwritten poem sealed with wax. (Though, let’s be honest — I wouldn’t turn any of those down.) Sometimes love looks like an oil change. Or tires that magically get aired up. A full tank of gas. Going out of their way to help transport and unload a Read more
-
You Smell Like Breakfast
Years ago, back in the elementary school days — the era of Velcro shoes, Pokémon cards, and Goldfish crackers ground permanently into the backseat of the mini van— one of my kids was running late for the bus. In a half-asleep act of maternal chaos, I found myself sprinting two blocks down our street — Read more
-
Life, Loss, and Little Dogs
March 11, 2015, was supposed to be just a normal day. It was bitterly cold — the kind where the snow had mostly melted, but the air still felt like it had a personal vendetta against me. We’d had a heavy snowstorm a few weeks earlier that dumped several inches in the area. But now, Read more
-
You Can Grow Anywhere. Thriving Is Different.
I read a quote over lunch recently that stopped me mid-bite: “People don’t grow where they’re planted; they grow where they’re loved.” — Bob Goff. “Sure, Bob. Let me just put down my fork and have an existential crisis real quick.” Next thing I know, I’m rethinking my entire life over leftovers. Because, sure, you can grow Read more
-
What Nashville Taught Me About the Work No One Sees
We just got back from a long weekend in Nashville, and I keep trying to hold onto it — like if I sit still long enough, maybe I’ll hear a lyric echo from a corner stage again, smell the sweet and smoky BBQ scent wafting through the air, or feel the hush of that moment Read more
-
More Than Ingredients
Thanks to TikTok, I’m in the middle of a full-blown kitchen reorganization project—swapping my pantry with my upper and lower cabinets in hopes of creating something more functional (at least that’s the hope). I thought it would be a quick weekend task. Just clear some shelves, make things easier to reach, maybe label a few Read more
-
I Wanted Fraggle Rock Nostalgia. I Got a Preschool Rave.
Empty nesting feels a lot like living in Fraggle Rock—we wander around the house, talk to inanimate objects (mostly the dog), and occasionally burst into song for no reason. The kids are grown, the laundry has slowed to a suspicious trickle, and our nightly conversations now include important topics like: “Is this meat still good?” Read more
-
Courage, Connection, and Compassion in the Workplace
When I was a professional photographer, I got the humbling experience to be with people on their best days and sometimes their worst days. In rare moments, those two experiences intertwined together in a breathtaking, heartbreaking dance of love and grief — saying “hello” and “goodbye” on the same day. It’s a weird thing to Read more