Beyond the Wall

When the COVID pandemic shuts down the world on March 16, 2020, I am at home with the man I am divorcing on the eve of our second mediation appointment. Now, for the next fifteen days, we are stuck together, under the same roof, to help slow the spread. Fifteen days turns into five months. 

After my husband moves out, and alone for the first time in twenty years, I embark on a cosmic healing journey to dismantle the walls I inherited as first-generation American and only daughter born to German immigrant parents and the walls I built to survive. Along the way, I grieve the loss of myself, discover the joy of pleasure, and feel the freedom of menopause. But at the start of 2022, when I am faced with yet another heart-wrenching loss, I have a choice to make: build a new wall and retreat or dare to forgive the hurts of the past and walk into the life I always knew I had within me.

Blending the emotional, spiritual and physical liberation of Glennon Doyle’s Untamed with the exploration of grief and trauma in Natasha Trethewey’s Memorial Drive, Beyond the Wall is an 86,000-word, no holds-barred memoir about breaking the silence of domestic violence, healing between mothers and daughters, and reclaiming the creativity we carry within. And it is the story of how each of us can feel at home in our bodies, embrace who we are, and become women who step out and say: “I am here. Here I am.”

The Stories That Sparkle

Every one of us is facet on the giant disco ball of life. When the light hits just right, it is our stories that sparkle in the dark.

The Stories That Sparkle on Substack is the container for my writing and creative multi-tasking. Every Monday, I publish Monday Missives (updates on my current events, what’s on my mind and in my heart, and a bit about what I listen to or read when I am not writing or recording). If you’re a free subscriber, those land in your inbox along with new podcast episodes.

Paid subscribers will also have access to three sections of different content:

• “From the Vault”: Longer written pieces, mostly background stories from my life or essays that cover topics like grappling with my body, starting over, and grieving the loss of just about anything.

• “Behind the Scenes”: Video content of what I get up to when I am at home and working as a one-woman audio/visual department.

• “On the Road”: Video and audio of the people I meet and the places I visit on my travels around the country (or abroad).