Born into a family of academics, I became a high-achieving brainiac with a BA in French and history from Dartmouth and an MBA from Harvard. I thrived on knowing the answer in management consulting and international finance until I had three children and downshifted to teaching business to university students. 

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From the outside in, everything looked great. But at thirty-four, I ruptured a disc in my back playing a competitive tennis match and landed in the breakdown lane. I had surgery, thinking it would be a quick fix. But for over a decade, I struggled with intense pain, becoming ever more frustrated that I couldn’t get rid of it. 

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When doctors finally said there was nothing to do but anesthetize myself with painkillers, I began a journey to do just the opposite: to feel all that I was feeling. It included a lot of somatic healing practices—massage, yoga, yoga nidra, dance, meditation—plus learning to speak Italian and over fifteen years of living mostly in Italy. 

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One thing kept leading to another as I trusted in not knowing what would happen next.

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I first went to Milan to teach university students at forty-seven. Four years later after a divorce, I launched myself onto a completely different path to train as a professional wine sommelier and join a writing group. Within two years, I was writing a monthly wine column for an online magazine out of Rome and four years, after that, I created my own blog about natural Italian wine, www.uncorkedinitaly.com. 

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In the meantime, I lived pain free, writing a memoir while I was learning another language—the language of my body and its vocabulary of sensation. 

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Nearly, thirty years after that ruptured disc, I earned certification as a life coach and completed Gabor Maté’s training course in Compassionate Inquiry, a body-centered approach to healing. And, I’m almost ready to publish my book. 

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I stand in wonder and gratitude for all the ways my life continues to evolve.