My mother called my baby girl chunky. I asked her to stop. She said it again at the baptism. I told myself I'd set a boundary, but I hadn't. Here's what I actually had, and what it cost me to keep it for thirty years.

The 40s can become the decade of looking both ways - backward at the family that shaped you, and forward toward the life, legacy, relationships, or next generation you are shaping. This article explores responsibility, aging parents, over-functioning, family patterns, and the sacred work of deciding what is yours to carry and what is time to put down.

Today’s 20-somethings are not becoming adults in the same world their parents did. They are trying to find themselves in a louder, faster, more expensive world — while parents are learning that distance is not always rejection. Sometimes, it is the space young adults need to become.

Sometimes the biggest red flags are not loud or obvious. They happen in ordinary conversations, when you start wondering if you remembered something wrong, asked for too much, or believe you made a bigger deal out of something than you should have. This article is about the quiet way a relationship can make you stop trusting yourself, and what it feels like when you finally notice