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When Fear, Not Pain, Holds You Back
9 Weeks Post Spine Fusion Today, I am nine weeks post spine fusion.Still a tongue twister. Still surreal. Yesterday, I saw a rehab doctor and had my first physical therapy session. What came out of…
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Learning To Stay
What happens when you don’t rush the next chapter I’ve realized something quietly but clearly over the past year.I’ve grown comfortable being alone, not because I withdrew from life, but because my sense of happiness…
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A Christmas Tree Isn’t Always Joy
Trigger Warning: This post discusses suicide and self-harm. The other day, I encountered two separate people who thought about harming themselves. In both cases, a Christmas tree was involved. In one story, a woman shared…
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Pivot: My Road to Recovery
Life has a way of forcing pauses. This time, mine came with titanium. Since May 2025, my spine issues have escalated. After my first surgery last June 27, the disc extrusion came back — more…
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Beneath Philippine Seas
A Sonnet by Lex Asked Lex to write a sonnet about scuba diving in the Philippines, using this prompt:Write a sonnet about scuba diving in the Philippines. With correct metric or rhythm. I wanted something…
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Sharks Are Not the Beasts—We Are
Swimming With Sharks—A Bucket List ExperienceFor many, swimming with sharks is a dream. Resorts and dive shops worldwide—especially in the Maldives, Bahamas, and Fiji—offer shark encounters. These often feature nurse sharks, a docile species.If you’ve…
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Isla Verde, February 26: What Happened, What Didn’t, and Why It Matters
Two divers died in Isla Verde on February 26. They were Russian nationals. I did not know them. But the dive community is small. Their deaths weigh on all of us. I wasn’t there. I…