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A Wild Soul

Personal Blog

Musings

the 1st year in photos

10 June 16, 2019 Maine

the 1st year in photos

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Isla 3 months

6 September 16, 2018 Musings

Isla 3 months

Dearest Isla, On your 3 month birthday and on the eve of beginning medical school again, I spent some time going through photos of the past few weeks. Oh, how much you have grown! Some highlights: You have mastered so many different faces while still surprising and delighting us with new ones. You have been…

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Pacific Northwest

2 October 10, 2015 Musings

Pacific Northwest

“Compassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away. Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. You must either learn to carry the Universe or be crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit…

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Camping in Big Sur

0 June 1, 2013 Musings

Camping in Big Sur

When one of my best friends signed up for a summer backpacking out West when we were like 15, she used her few precious minutes at a pay phone to call me and explain, “Julia, I am not a f*cking kumbaya kind of girl! GET ME OUT OF HERE!” I remember her being so miserable…

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Life is pure adventure…

0 July 28, 2011 Musings

Life is pure adventure…

Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art. – Maya Angelou Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves,…

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summer comes, yeah, as loud as hope…

0 July 17, 2011 Musings

summer comes, yeah, as loud as hope…

I am always so inspired by other people’s blogs so here I am, six months after my last post, hoping I won’t forget about this place that exists somewhere out in cyber-land, hoping I can contribute something to the world that might add a little beauty. It’s just every time I sit down at my…

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0 June 29, 2010 Musings

summer plans: love, love, love

For the past 10 years, I have volunteered in the US and abroad, but this summer I have made no such plans. Instead, I am embarking on a different journey: an adventure with my grandmother, Mama Eula. Six years ago, my Mama Eula started forgetting things—how many eggs she put in the cake batter, where…

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all good things are wild and free

0 April 18, 2010 Musings

all good things are wild and free

April in Maine The flowers and trees have just started blooming, and it rains a lot. When it is sunny though, the temperature fluctuates between 40 and 70 degrees.  On warmer days, anyone not in class can be found outside reading, biking, hiking, climbing trees, and then jumping from them. One of the trees has…

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for what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

1 February 25, 2010 Maine

for what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

Rest in Peace Shelley Ann Lisbona 2/23/2010 My heart feels like it is bleeding right now, and I don’t really have any words. The pictures below are from the summer of 2006 when we went to Massachusetts together. I was one of the leaders on the team, and Shelley was one of my kids (but…

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1 February 9, 2010 Musings

Protected: I won’t be made useless

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

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0 February 7, 2010 Musings

Protected: Woman King

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

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0 February 6, 2010 Maine

Figure out what you hope for… live inside that hope.

“The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is to live inside that hope.” – Barbara Kingsolver “Poverty used to have the face of a woman, now poverty has the face of a child.” – Executive Director of UNV Kathe…

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From earlier this summer when we tried to camp in From earlier this summer when we tried to camp in the back yard, but then the neighbor set off fireworks. 😁🥳🏕🎆
🌻🌻🌻 🌻🌻🌻
A few more 🥰 A few more 🥰
About to send a bunch of film off to get developed About to send a bunch of film off to get developed for the first time in years 🥳🤞. Cannot wait to see what comes back! The box will consist of photos I I have taken over the last 6 months so I am a little nervous to part with it. But I haven’t had time to develop myself (something I want to do whenever I have time again lol). These photos are some of my favorites — before the pandemic, medical school and motherhood.
One year ago. If you have any questions or concern One year ago. If you have any questions or concerns about the vaccine please feel free to DM me anytime. We are all in this together. 🌎🌍🌏✨🌈🌿
Trying to study for my last big medical school exa Trying to study for my last big medical school exam — an exam that has an enormous impact on where we live next year and what I will do for the rest of my life — and the birds and the flowers and the light are so damn distracting. At least after being in school for 20 something years I can confidently say I study best outside where I can appreciate nature’s beauty in my peripheral vision (as opposed to being inside where I would surely just sit and daydream all day). ☺️
I keep meaning to get back on here and post again I keep meaning to get back on here and post again and today seems like a good day to start because I can brag about @mattmaiorana being the sweetest, gentlest dada a mama could ever want. Our darling little one just turned 3 and she says the funniest things including “dada are you sad? Why are you sad dada?” when he tries to brush her teeth. I guess his focused face worries her so he now brushes her teeth with a smile (last pic) — usually after a long day of work, a few hours of play and exploring outside, cooking dinner, and getting her cleaned up and ready for bed (all of which she resists with stern faces, pouts and giggles). Lol and after all that when she finallyyyy agrees to brushing her teeth, “don’t be sad” 😂👼🏻😂. This pandemic has been hard, but at least I’ve had the continual joy of watching these two love each other and play day in and day out and I go to bed most days eager to do it again 🥰
I will miss you sweet Banjo 💔😭 I will miss you sweet Banjo 💔😭
4 years ago and still so grateful ✨🌚🍃 4 years ago and still so grateful ✨🌚🍃
Happiest of birthdays to my Yanzi I am blessed To Happiest of birthdays to my Yanzi
I am blessed
To love you
To hold you 
To know you.
Your brilliant mind
and fiercely kind spirit. 

Thankful for all you give, all you are, all you do, all you dream.
for your musical laugh and wide smile
I want to climb inside and curl up and call home.

Last night, you danced
standing in a lake so great it’s an ocean, and 
I watched
from the clifftop above
as the sky painted its beauty around you.
I marveled 
at you at the water at the sky.

Someone nearby lit a floating lantern 
and the baby on my back said
more more more!!

 “the sand is thirsty” you said 
while laughing and peeing and 
effortlessly holding my gaze 

the earth is thirsty
for you, for us, for this
And she’s TWO!! I want to say it’s going way t And she’s TWO!! I want to say it’s going way too fast.  Every minute with her is magic! Also these last 3 years have been the longest years of my life 😅. But slow down sweet baby slow down. Little one loves watermelon and blueberries. She likes to ride around on her dada’s back, make bubbles in the bath, wash dishes, move furniture, collect rocks, and help build things. She packs up her backpack for adventures and will wear it while running all over the place, and if you chase her she gets so excited she collapses in a fit of laughter. She likes to sing and read from any piece of paper that has words on it “wa-wa-wa-wa.” She likes to snuggle in bed all night and does not want her own big kid bed. When we ask she points to the bed and says “no! Mama... Dada... and Baby!” She loves the dogs and likes to get in their beds and pretend she’s a dog too. She calls all crayons “lellow”, and has started saying “huh?” Her favorite books are my med school books, Goodnight Moon, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? Favorite movies are The Tale or Princess Kaguya, My Neighbor Totoro, and Moana. She still sleeps on me for most naps and nights, but at least she sleeps for 6 hours at a time most nights (finally!), but she always wants to stay up to play until 11pm or later. When it is finally time for bed, she manages to say “byeee.. byeeee... byeee” while blowing kisses and waving and crying all at the same time. 🌻
Happy, happy birthday sister 😘😍 Happy, happy birthday sister 😘😍
Kisses 😘 Kisses 😘
Reflecting on my immense love for this little one Reflecting on my immense love for this little one who made me a mother 🥰
I want to think again of dangerous and noble thing I want to think again of dangerous and noble things. I want to be light and frolicsome. I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing, as though I had wings. - Mary Oliver
More 🐮 More 🐮
🐮 🐮
Spring 🥳 Spring 🥳
“For every atom belonging to me as good Belongs “For every atom belonging to me as good Belongs to you. Remember?” - Marie Howe
Two more 🌬☃️ Two more 🌬☃️
Last few pics of winter! ❄️ Someone in my fami Last few pics of winter! ❄️ Someone in my family threw this pink wool onesie in the dryer 🤷‍♀️ so it will now only (maybe) fit a newborn... ahh... good thing spring is here!
This sweet baby loves to visit all the statues in This sweet baby loves to visit all the statues in the park. There’s a big horse and quite a few lions and we go say hi to them (and roar at them!) every chance we get. Today @ya.n.zi joined us and we played hide and seek among the trees and walked down to the lake and it was so, so wonderful and I didn’t take any pictures so instead I am sharing this one from a few weeks ago 😍.
More snow tomorrow 😍 More snow tomorrow 😍
This tree. This tree.
Matt and Isla in the snow ❄️ Matt and Isla in the snow ❄️
Her face every time she sees the ocean 😍 Her face every time she sees the ocean 😍
I spend way too much time on here passively consum I spend way too much time on here passively consuming other’s creativity and lives... so I am gonna try to force myself to post something every time I open Instagram 😂. Quick update from me (bc I also use this as my journal 😌). A lot has happened these last few weeks! I finished (and passed 🙏✨) all my exams for phase 1 and am now onto the next phase where I get to see patients everyday! We  moved to Milwaukee where I’ll be rotating through various clinics and hospitals for the next few years with my amazing TRIUMPH cohort (training in urban medicine and public health). I had two weeks off for the holidays and we visited family in Detroit and Florida. We were pretty sick for the whole two weeks (flu maybe idk!) and that put a bit of a damper on things, but it was still wonderful to get in some family time and sun. We returned to Milwaukee exhausted and still recovering from our illnesses, but I think now I can officially say I am better! Yay! Happy new year!! #medicalschool #womeninmedicine
Said I would get out and challenge myself w my cam Said I would get out and challenge myself w my camera and share more photos here and then promptly disappeared! Sorry about that! I will be using (friends only) instastories for most phone pics and then using my wall for more intentional photography. First snow of the year.. Isla was wary! — October 29, 2019
“November’s a burn and an ache.” - Charles W “November’s a burn and an ache.” - Charles Wright
☃️ ☃️
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