About Me

I might as well jump right in.

About 15 years ago, I had the rug pulled out from under my life in every way imaginable: physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, and spiritually.

This is the short version of the story; don’t worry:

I was arrested, along with my husband, for crimes I did not commit. At that time in my life, I was blithely raising three kids, coaching their soccer teams, and helping part-time at my husband’s home-building business. Three different customers of the business did not pay us substantial sums of money and convinced the District Attorney’s office that we had stolen money from them. They were angry at us for filing liens on their homes, and that was a way to get out of paying the money they owed us.

I promise I am going to keep this short and simple. The facts of the story are not that important for this blog and the writings I share.

Needless to say, we went to trial. My husband pleaded guilty to three felonies on the advice of his newly hired attorney who was not privy to all the case facts. I went to trial with an attorney who had prepared no defense, and I was convicted of nine felonies.

My parents generously gave me very large sums of money to hire a competent defense and appeals attorney.

Over the next four years I went to jail, paid a lot of money in restitution that I really did not owe, was on probation, had to be randomly drug tested every month, found out the State had committed a Brady offense, won my appeal, had my convictions overturned, had to prepare for another trial, and eventually had the State drop all charges against me.

Whoa. I am going to write a complete book about this someday, but for now that is all you need to know.

One day, after I had spent 90 days in jail, I started to think about writing something that would help people prepare for their time in jail. I knew nothing about the criminal justice system when I was arrested in June 2005. I did not know about the Innocence Project. I did not know that innocent people could be convicted of crimes they did not commit. I did not know that some prosecutors are ethically challenged and care more about their win record and advancing their careers than actual justice.  In fact, from my experience and point of view, it should be called the Criminal Injustice System.

I did not write what I expected to write. I wrote my first book, Confessions of An Ungrateful Soccer Mom, which you will find excerpts from on this site.  I continued to write to teach people how to practice gratitude when they are feeling especially ungrateful—how to find meaning in your life even if you do not feel like living or even getting out of bed.

Yes, that was me for years. Not only had I gone to jail, become a convicted felon, and suffered extreme financial distress; but my worldview of life as good and kind and peaceful shattered. Nothing made sense to me anymore. I felt I had nothing to live for—the exception being my kids, of course, who got me through this very dark time. For the most part, life felt hopeless and despairing.

And that is why I write and keep writing. I know there are other people who experienced and are experiencing hard times. There are people who have felt and even still feel as I did once.

Writing helped me work through the dark and challenging times when I felt like giving up.  It helped me let go of my attachment to the physical and material world and find my meaning in the spiritual.

My writings are not religious, but they are deeply spiritual. They are not a quick-fix for whatever hard times you are experiencing in your life, but they are a practice that you can use.

I am here. I have life. Most days, I am a very grateful person when previously I took so much in life for granted.

Enjoy. I sincerely hope this helps.

Enough about me.