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The first time I looked at Niagara Falls, I could hardly believe I was there. And alive to see it. There’s a voice inside me that has turned up in one place after another: “Oh my God. Can you believe you’re alive? Can you believe this is what you’re doing with your life?” I usually…
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Ray and I went swimming with a sea lion in Puerto Vallarta in 2024. We were the only two people in the water for our session with Vallarta Adventures, and I loved it. I thought I was sharing one of my favorite travel memories. Then the comments started. We’re planning to return to Puerto Vallarta,…
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Yesterday had every ingredient necessary to become a bad day. Not every reason in the world—that is probably a Kathryn exaggeration—but enough of them. We rented a car in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, intending to drive to the Tablelands in Gros Morne National Park. The car was small, low to the ground and uncomfortable for Ray.…
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I thought I was using AI to help me plan a less expensive, more independent day in Halifax. I didn’t know that the day—and a later conversation with my Bot—would give me a perfectly G-rated way to describe how unbelievably good it sometimes feels to be alive. By my fourth visit to Halifax, I had…
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Every year, Facebook reminds me of the day my brain announced that I had an “82-month-old lover.” Yes, that sounds considerably worse than an 82-year-old lover. No, I did not have one of either age. It began with a phone call from my daughter Brittany. “Mom, did you read what you wrote on Facebook?” I…
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I knew I was fat. I wasn’t under the illusion that the right outfit could hide it. I was trying to cover the parts I disliked, arrange the fabric as flatteringly as possible, and find clothes that didn’t make me feel worse about myself. Anyone who has lived in a very large body will know…
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I don’t think people understand how unlikely it is that I’m still here. Every July I become reflective. Diagnosis day. Diagnosis week. Diagnosis month. Another year alive. When people hear “brain cancer survivor,” they assume my story goes something like this: I had cancer. I had treatment. It worked. Now I go back every few…
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For most of my life, I lived like a lot of people do. Someday I’d lose the weight. Someday I’d take the trip. Someday I’d become the person I wanted to be. Then on July 20, 2020, someday disappeared. I was told I had a brain tumor. In an instant, all those things I’d been…
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Night at the Improv May 2022 Improv, Boston, May 2022, I was chosen after sharing that I was celebrating being NED, no evidence of disease, at my one-year checkup. A Piece of Our Story This short interview was filmed early in our journey. It’s not the whole story, but it’s part of it — and…
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That Didn’t Go as Planned. Three of my ten grandkids have been dying to go tubing.So Pop got the boat ready, we loaded everything up, and off to the lake we went. The first attempt was a complete bust. We got the boat in the water, and it wouldn’t stay running. After a lot of…