Writing Prompt #111: Family Matters

What are some things you wish you could say to a family member? What might they say back?

Hi Friends,

You know how everyone else’s life on social media looks more awesome than our own? I’m here to say that behind those photographs of beach sunsets, happy couples, and far-flung getaways, everyone has hard things, too. I travel a lot, and I love to take photographs of beautiful things. I post these photos on Instagram, and I know that probably makes my life look like a carefree bounty of hiking and skiing, wildflowers and wilderness. And my life is that way in some respects—happy and full, and I’m so very grateful for that, but everyone faces difficult things, too—things they may not always share.

I traveled to the Sonoran Desert last week to give a talk at the Tucson Book Festival and got to visit these old friends again (the saguaros).

Because I write memoir (among other things), I share the hardships as well as the joys, so I’m honest about how things are really going (outside of visiting beautiful places). One of my recent hard things is that after many months of medical tests, I’ve been diagnosed with a brain tumor. The good news is that it’s very small and it’s most likely benign—it’s called a parafalcine meningioma, and it’s in my frontal lobe between my two hemispheres (which is in a terrible location if it grows and needs to come out).