One minute, my life was full. The next, it was a crater.

In the span of six months, the universe took my only sibling, my mother, and my two dogs.

Grief that profound doesn’t just break your heart; it scorches your entire compass. Not surprisingly, my marriage couldn’t survive it. The grief changed me, and the life we’d built no longer fit.

Walking out of that fire, with six kids and no map, I realized I was still standing. That wasn’t an ending. It was the beginning of my real work.

When I made the wildly brave (and slightly unhinged) decision to love again, I knew I couldn’t just hope for the best. Hope is essential, but it’s not a strategy.

So I got obsessive.

I studied trauma systems, attachment theory, nervous system regulation, and the work of the best relationship experts on the planet. I had to understand what makes love do more than just survive - what makes it thrive.

And now, I’m remarried.

Between us, we have eight kids, two full-time careers, and a level of logistical chaos that would make air traffic controllers weep. We’re not the couple reading by the fire. Most nights, we’re just trying not to lose the scissors.

And still, this work?

It changed everything.

We live intentionally, relationally, and in bliss.