My daughter was born in the foothills of Shirak, Armenia in the shadow of Mt. Aragats. The landscape is rugged, the winters long, brown hillsides fold into each other and …
Math has never been my forte. When I was in grade school, I was fair to middling at math. Unfortunately, in tenth grade I suffered through “SMSG geometry” and a teacher—amazingly enough, a woman—who did nothing to inspire …
“Come on now. I want to see five big birthday breaths,” our spin instructor tells us. “Like you’re blowing out candles.”
I took as much air as I could into my lungs as he started to count.
“One—-two—-if you don’t breath you won’t make it to the end of class.”
Inhale. Exhale. I …

