My motherland, the country where I was born and spent 10.5 years of my life, is under an atrocious attack. No cutesy introduction. No background information. Just this. Kharkiv, the city where I spent half of my childhood, where my parents were born and educated, where they met each other…

It was a rainy Yom Kippur day when I pulled up into the parking lot of a reform temple in the Atlanta area. This was a temple where my husband and I got married. Ten years later, we renewed our vows here in front of family and friends. A couple…

I got a chance to sit at a Shakespeare and Co. bookstore on the Upper West Side of Manhattan a couple of weeks ago. It was raining, it was October, it was gloomy. I was visiting New York for a long weekend, my husband, daughters, and some melancholy in tow…

My daughter started high school three weeks ago, and I was flooded with emotions that came unexpectedly out of nowhere. This is coming from a highly emotional person. That’s to say, I know my feelings, I feel my feelings, and I’m aware of the highs and lows that I am…

“I’m 42 years old,” I told a friend, “and I’ve found one of the biggest joys I’ve ever experienced just now!” She nodded, “That’s wonderful!” For as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamt of ice skating. I’d imagine myself gracefully gliding across the ice as I drove in my…

The past year shook families, testing parents as they worked and taught kids from home, debated about how close to stand to grandparents, deliberated over wiping down groceries and other health concerns. Parenting during a pandemic was an unexpected breakdown of all the norms families have come to rely on…

Vita Lemberg — Johns Creek My mom lost two things last year — a younger brother and 60 pounds. One, forever. The other, for as long as she wants to. My mom’s 51-year-old brother (my gorgeous, life-loving uncle) passed away unexpectedly last April, at the peak of a global pandemic…

“I’m 42 years old,” I told a friend, “and I’ve found one of the biggest joys I’ve ever experienced just now!” She nodded, “That’s wonderful!” For as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamt of ice skating. I’d imagine myself gracefully gliding across the ice as I drove in my…

It was a well-oiled machine, this COVID vaccine location. In a nondescript government building, only five minutes from my house, was the haven we have all been waiting for. I drove up with trepidation, adjusting the mask on my face as I pulled into the parking lot. A young female…