I’ve said goodbye to so many things since being here, and it is not an understatement to say that I was not prepared for any of them. There have been so many goodbyes. Grief, on the other hand, now that’s not quite so automatic.

What about those moments when you’re honing in on a dragon? What happens when it’s taking all your concentration and discipline to defeat that which is in front of you? How do you make sure your back is safe?

Shocking confession: About a month before I was married to my husband, I went on a date with another man.

When jumping off the couch too quickly means twisting an ankle or pulling a muscle, requiring two weeks of care and restoration, one can start to feel a little worse for the wear.

Well, this month has been a whirlwind and I’m in need of a fairytale ending, preferably not Grimms.

Never in my wildest imaginations could I have dreamed up what this year held for both me and my family.

Making sense of the world around us is sometimes a dizzyingly overwhelming task. I for one rely upon intuition a lot. But what happens when feelings lead us up the garden path?

Over the past few months, the challenges have been endless, but there have been some perks so I’m going to share five of my faves with you today.

9 months in and homesickness has come to roost. I’m not gonna lie, once again I thought I’d be a little above this, or at least that it wouldn’t hit as hard as it hits everyone else. Always the optimist right?

Living like there is more to life is deeply connected to living well now. And while death brings that perspective, so can dancing.

I come bowling in with my unadjusted eyes, squinting in the dark, and then writing about it for everyone to read. Bit of a cocky move really.

Some of us are blessed with the ability to hunt out the ugly parts of ourselves, name it, and agonisingly carve it out. Some of us aren’t.

It’s hard to understand a pain this deep from a distance. It’s hard to give voice to something this deeply unutterable.

Do you know what’s worse than looking demons in the eye? Looking at the darkness and realizing that it’s just my own fallen state. That’s a tough one to come back from.

The thrill that I felt when I was finally walking off of the plane into Budapest was crazy high. The work that we had done for 3 years had led us to this moment, and it gave me the ultimate sense of achievement.

I’m sure this isn’t going to be a new and strange story for you. It’s a fairly common struggle for western women these days.

This year started in a buzz of momentum with a few extra hours for reading. So naturally (because I’m over 30), I made it one of my New Year Resolutions to read more this year.

It’s one thing having to lie in the bed we made, but every morning Minna comes bounding out of her room toward ours for a quick snuggle in that bed, literally and figuratively.

These automatic habits that I had fallen into were actually stealing time away from me and causing me to rush with the things that deserved a good amount of time. I was becoming far too busy because I was actually being wasteful.

I just want to be the force of positivity and happiness that people love to be around, but I feel like the downbuzz. I feel more like a Dwight than a Jim and it’s really starting to bother me.