A friend of mine who’s been reading my blog sent me an email recently. She reminded me that it’s not always easy to live what you believe when you’re wondering what you believe. “Have you figured that part out?” she...

I don’t know about you, but discussing politics (or even daring to urge people to vote this year) feels a bit like wading into a minefield with no way of knowing which topics might unleash the fever pitch emotions that...

I grew up as an Air Force brat and spent most of my first sixteen years living on a military base, so my exposure to true politics was minimal. In high school we moved to Virginia, right outside of Washington,...

Our house has been brimming with expectation for weeks: a birthday, the very first day of preschool, the first day of Kindergarten, the return of college football. These are big milestones in Casa Riselli. And as dinner conversation turns from what...

For too many years, I didn’t consider myself a runner. I saw people who ran and since I didn’t look like them or run like them, I wasn’t really a runner. When I joined the track team as a senior,...

Leaves crunched under my feet as I jogged hesitantly from the parking lot to the paved running trail. It was a brilliant Virginia fall, and although some trees still boasted vibrant red-orange leaves, many had yellowed and more than a...

Light flooded the kitchen as I sat down at the table and opened my journal. It was pitch black outside but every light in the house was on. I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the brightness. Two hours before,...