Baruch Dayan Amet. After a yearlong battle with lung cancer, my dad passed away at the age of 82, on August 23 right before Shabbat sunrise. We buried him the same night, under the beautiful Jerusalem sky. We had planned to come to Jerusalem in March 2023 for my dad’s 80th birthday (had the tickets … Continue reading Jerusalem 2025
Life is not lived in decades, years, months or days. Life is lived in moments. And it’s lived in moments when the next moment is unknown. I had my yearly mammogram mid-March and thankfully all is well. And instead of going through a simple sequence of fear-relief-joy, I was going through grief. Grief of what … Continue reading Spring Again: March-Chicago-COVID-April
There is a lot to unpack since my last essay. I’m very grateful to have peacefully finished the fall semester. Not only did I fully enjoy both of my classes and receive very thoughtful and positive feedback from the students, but I also found myself available to engage with some of the changes my university, … Continue reading Journey: Release and Renewal
It’s a beautiful September in Pennsylvania. The days are still warm, but the nights are considerably cooler. The trees are turning leaves earlier than usual this year. Our street has honey locusts on both sides--bad news in the spring for allergies--but in the fall, it creates the most beautiful golden ark over the street. Many … Continue reading Journey: The Gold Leaf of Gratitude
A friend recently asked me if there’s anything I’ve learned over this past year and a half that I’d want to scream from the top of a mountain to the world. I’m not sure I’m in the mood for screaming from the top of a mountain at the moment. But the question made me reflect … Continue reading Journey: spiral up?
A few weeks ago, my therapist suggested that I’d connect with joy, even if for a few moments throughout the day. This has been hard, not because there aren’t “objective” reasons for joy but because these days joy is often clouded by fear and grief. When after a week of trying I reported that this … Continue reading Journey: Connecting to Joy amid Challenges
Spring came early to central Pennsylvania this year. Our daffodils are typically late bloomers but around the neighborhood the yellow and white bells began appearing mid-March. Our cherry tree bloomed in the last week of March and so did the purple hyacinth, a gift from a dear friend. For years, if not decades, the first … Continue reading Journey: The Second Spring
My previous post worried many people across the world. It’s truly humbling to see the list of countries where people took the time to read my story. A heartfelt thank you for all the messages, love, compassion, healing vibes, good thoughts, and prayers. (There is quite a bit happening on my Facebook page where I … Continue reading Pelvic Floor Journey
I had been feeling better, “on the mend,” from approximately mid-October to early December. As much as my therapist and I had discussed the importance of not setting expectations, naturally somewhere on the back of my mind I had the expectation of “continuous recovery.” In addition, I was really looking forward to spending quality time … Continue reading Navigating Journey: Nothing is Set in Stone
It’s been almost two months since I’ve completed radiation, closing the “active treatment” chapter of this journey. It’s a new chapter now. I’m still figuring out what it is. It’s certainly not a “going-back-to-normal” kind of chapter. There is no going back in life, for me or anybody else, I find. When I shared with … Continue reading Journey Continues
Katerina Bodovski Writings 