Anna Perlini
Making peace with Jo
One of my favorite books when I was growing up was Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. The novel follows the lives of four sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March—detailing... »
Passion rekindled
I don't remember the first time we met; he just always seemed to be around when I was growing up. My parents made a point of inviting him to join us on summer vacations a... »
Postcard from Verona
I was born in the hometown of Romeo and Juliet. Every day on my way to school, I used to walk past the famous balcony where Shakespeare has the pair exchange passionate v... »
Painting a rainbow from life’s darkest storm
I first learned about Fu-Hua Chuang when my family and I watched a documentary that featured several severely disabled yet talented young people. I was struck by the radi... »
Life as a climb
The other day, some friends took me on what I thought would be a short climb. We parked the car and took a look at the summit. We got out our climbing gear and started pu... »
Lost in my hometown
I thought the move was going to be a simple change of scenery, possibly requiring some minor adjustments at most. After all, I was returning to my home country, already k... »
Anti-fear therapy
I was cleaning up my brushes and paint cans after some volunteers and I finished painting a large mural for the local Sunday school when Maxim passed me a note: I was rea... »
A working alternative
I first met Ivan in 1995 while collecting aid in Italy for delivery to refugee camps in Croatia and Bosnia. I remember his smile and warm handshake. It was a few years be... »
Notebooks and planners
Ever since my school days, one of my greatest thrills has been to start a new notebook. That first nice-smelling white page, all clean and perfect, without wrinkles or de... »
Shiny red apples
Christmas 1984 was our family’s third Christmas away from Europe, and the remote village in eastern India where we had moved to help as volunteers had become a second hom... »
Riverside walk
Long discussions regarding possible changes made the future seem foggier by the day. Several years earlier, my husband and I, together with a few friends, had founded a h... »