What My Firstborn Taught Me About Trust, Control, and Growing Up (Together) My firstborn, Photo taken by Laurence Vannicelli. I’ve carried this story for years. Not because anyone asked me to tell it, but because it now shapes how I see growth, trust, and independence. It’s a reflection on parenting, leadership, and the quiet work of letting go.  When my daughter was born, love and fear arrived together. She came too fast, too strong, too determined. The delivery room shifted from calm to...

What Is (and Isn’t) Grace. “Maybe I should give her grace,” Mary said. “She’s going through a lot.” I paused. “Is she ever not  going...

I hugged him one more time. Told him he had everything he needed to do anything he wanted. Then I watched him walk away. My heart wasn’t so much hollowed out as it was like taking apart a jigsaw puzzle. Its pieces were scattered, no longer fitting together.