“I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So, I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.”

-Nathaniel Hawthorne

Geez, a year goes by quickly. I started this blog out of an excitement for living more intentionally, and as a result of living more intentionally, this blog fell to the wayside. I started a new job that I love, got married, went on a honeymoon, became a vegetarian (7 months!), quit using nicotine altogether (almost 2 years cigarette-free, 3 months vape-free!), and now my wife is 22 weeks pregnant with our first child. Whew.

And yet life has not been all sunshine and butterflies. My mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. She’s about to start …