Oh, hello! My name is Kate Boller, and I'm a professor at Duke, a writer of some books

that have joyfully sarcastic titles, wife and mom, up a boy that is mostly made up of

giant flashlight eyeballs, and the kind of Canadian that reminds you that she is Canadian

this quickly into the conversation.

On the road less traveled, I took the bumpy one, the kind with those giant moguls. At 35,

I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, so I have spent a lot of time trying not to

die while living in a world that is drunk on the idea that everything will always work

out if you are extremely cheerful. I'm not in a red alert crisis health anymore, more

like kind of a bright orange, so cancer has become more of a chronic condition. But then

again, this is the life we all have right now, when life is a chronic condition for all

of us. I'm still trying to carve a path that I can walk, and maybe we can walk together.

All of us who are tired of carrying the weight of cliches and assurances that if we are

not winning we are losing. We might not have fewer problems, but we can make each other's

lives more bearable when we let go of the embarrassment of not having it together.

And then we can begin to feel the love and hope and truth that can be found right here

where we are together. I would love it if you joined me.

You can subscribe to everything happens wherever you listen to your podcasts to not miss

an episode. New episodes are coming every Tuesday. I'll see you there.