Deep Dive
A River Runs Through It There’s a scene in A River Runs Through It that has stayed with me for years. Not because I’m a fly fisherwoman. I’m not. But because the river in that story feels like life itself. Always moving. Always changing. Always carrying us somewhere. The older I get, the more I […]
That’s Not True
I No Longer Soften the Truth “And the biggest difference between then and now is this: I no longer soften the truth. Not for other people. And not for myself.” One of the things sexual assault steals is trust. Not just trust in other people. Trust in yourself. Trust in what you know. Trust in […]
Craig-45 Years of Shalom
Finding Shalom I started going to Shalom in 1980, and looking back, I can honestly say it was one of the most important decisions of my life. At the time, I was 32 years old and, by my own description, shut down. My mother had died when I was in high school, and I pretty […]
Faye-I Am, I Can, I Will!
The Beginning John Bottone and I were married for 20 years, and we have two wonderful daughters. We remain quite close. I read his story, and I thought, I have a story to tell too! My experience with Jerry and with the Mountain transformed me. Still Connected I haven’t been up to Shalom in a […]
Always Realizing Something
Emily-77 Always Realizing Something If I had to name the way I move through life, I think I would borrow the words of my grandson Lucas. He looked right at me, completely present, completely alive, and said,“Gaga, I’m always realizing something.” And I remember stopping. Really stopping. Because something in me recognized itself in that. […]
Amelia-Love, Grief, and the Body That Knows
Held Through Thresholds Shalom has held me through some of the biggest thresholds of my life. It is where I came home to my body.It is where I had a ceremony to become a woman.It is where I met my husband.It is where I mourned him.And it is where I eventually stepped into leadership. I […]
The Life That Was Waiting for Me
Kelly-46 A Purpose to Tell the Truth A part of my purpose in this lifetime is to tell the truth. Maybe that is one of the reasons I’m here: to speak honestly, to share, to take what I’ve lived, learned, and transformed, and offer it back in some way that might be of service. I […]
Maxine-This is Me
What Is Still Worth Doing For the last several years, I have found myself thinking about what, exactly, I still wanted to do with my life. My husband was sick for seven years before he died, and illness has a way of shrinking a life. In the beginning, we could still go places, still do […]
Angela-There You Are
A Life Splitting Down the Middle In 2008, my life felt like it was splitting down the middle. My relationship with my spouse had ended for what would become the final time, and we had two young children together. I felt deeply trapped. I couldn’t imagine leaving because of them, and I couldn’t imagine how […]
Speak Up and Wait
Jennifer-61 When “Speak Up” Isn’t the Solution Recently, Melania Trump encouraged victims connected to Jeffrey Epstein to come forward and testify. And something in me didn’t just disagree. It tightened. Something about that lands hard. Not because encouraging truth is inherently wrong. But it ignores a deeper, more painful reality. Many of the victims already […]