It can be tough to know what to say when someone close to you has lost a job or gotten a terrible diagnosis. When my mom died, I was taken aback by some of the things people said. They were trying to be supportive, to connect with me in my time of grief, but sometimes it just amplified the hurt…
I’ve been struck by how many people have trial by fire stories from a big journey — often at the very outset of the trip. Two couples we know had all their belongings stolen at the start of long international treks, and in the book I’m reading, Letters from New Orleans, the author’s girlfriend has her car stolen almost immediately…
