Good morning! I am drinking my coffee and reflecting on the past week. Since I had set this time aside for a chat with anyone who needed it, I decided to do some “grief work” of my own. I am thinking about the overall events of the week- what went well, what I could have done better, and key takeaways. I think one of the main things that I have been struggling with over the last week is how to separate myself from all of the terrible things happening in the world right now. As an empath, it’s particularly hard to see posts on social media that involve children who are suffering as a result of things happening in an adult world. They are innocently caught in the cross fire and I want so badly to find a way to protect them. I know that I can not possibly save all of the children in the world that need it, as much as I would want to. So, where does this leave me? The obvious one seems to be that I could limit my exposure to social media- which I continue to work on, but is not very realistic while trying to gain more presence myself on social media platforms. I am left with the realization that I can only do so much, but what I can do I will to the best of my ability. Helping others in my community-especially vulnerable children and families, using my voice to advocate for others who can’t do that for themselves, providing support and resources,… At the end of the day, that is really all any of us can do. If we focus on our corners of the world, we can make an impact- especially all of us with hearts that can relate to grief and loss. Let’s at least keep trying. 💝 Julie

Someone just shared with me their tradition of honoring their lost loved ones on their birthday. They give a toast to them with whatever drink was their favorite. When asked what my sister, Erica’s, favorite drink was, I immediately remembered her special concoction of “cookie juice”- (see recipe below). Another thing that we can incorporate into traditions that honor our loved ones is sharing family recipes and passing them down. What are some of your favorite family traditional recipes? 💝🍪🥛