"Always be yourself, unless you can be a unicorn. Then always be a unicorn." — Unknown I smiled when I read this quote because, over the past week, I was called a unicorn more times than I can count. A physician said it. Fellow transplant recipients said it. Members of my team said it. At first, I laughed. Then I began to wonder why that particular word kept appearing. Perhaps a unicorn is simply someone who reminds us that miracles still exist. This past week I had the p

"What matters most is how we respond to what we experience in life" — Stephen R. Covey There are moments in life when we are reminded that strength is not always loud. Sometimes strength looks like getting out of bed when your body aches. Sometimes it looks like showing up for another appointment when fear whispers in your ear. Sometimes strength is simply taking the next breath and trusting God with the next step. Last year my sister received a breast cancer diagnosis. The

“You will be remembered for making a difference, and not for being the owner of fleets of cars.” ― Michael Bassey Johnson I can still remember the day I got my very first new car. The scent of fresh upholstery filled the air, and my heart danced with excitement as I drove it off the lot. It was a deep blue Honda Civic, a stick shift, and it was mine. That moment felt like a milestone—proof of hard work, determination, and a dream realized. Over the years, there have been

“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” Warren Buffett What if we knew the impact our actions would have many years after we make them? There is something beautifully humbling about this thought, isn’t there? There is power in looking at the fact that every decision we make impacts others in some way. To realize that what we do today—every word we speak, every action we take, every kindness we offer—has a ripple that extends

“I love you neither with my heart nor with my mind. My heart might stop my mind can forget. I love you with my soul because my soul never stops or forgets." -Rumi There is a kind of love that the world tries to teach us—structured, conditional, and often rooted in survival. And then there is the love of the soul… infinite, unwavering, and untouched by circumstance. In our early years, we are like open vessels, absorbing what love looks like through the actions of those arou

"We do not remember days, we remember moments. The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten." ~ Cesare Pavese Some of my most treasured memories are not tied to dates on a calendar but to moments etched into my heart. One of my favorite characters in this thing called life was Grandpa Opha. He wasn’t my grandfather by blood, yet he felt like family in all the ways that truly matter. What made him so special was his ability to sit and talk for hours about his life

“It isn't what you leave your children but how you leave them." Milton S. Hershey We came so close to not having Hershey Chocolate....