Personal essays.

Reflections on food, family, community, and connection.

Liver Lady
community Jill Lesley community Jill Lesley

Liver Lady

News of death is never easy and getting blind sided by it adds one more layer of emotion to sift through. When you finally hit the bottom of your grief, you’re left grasping onto the undeniable truth of how precious our time here really is.

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Kale Revolution
sustenance Jill Lesley sustenance Jill Lesley

Kale Revolution

And there I stood, wresting with my conscious for a good five minutes. Surely I can go without it for eight days, I reasoned. Why, I wondered, when there are so many other alternatives?

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Burst of Life
Jill Lesley Jill Lesley

Burst of Life

The best time to clean beeswax, in my experience, is in the dead of winter when it is grey and lifeless and the thermometer can barely get itself above 0ºF. Here's why. When you finally get all of your containers of miscellaneous wax rounded up and pull that lid off of your old Folger's wax can, you will be instantaneously met with a burst of life.

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Do it Right
Jill Lesley Jill Lesley

Do it Right

Last week I did exactly what they warn you about. I went back. I took a perfectly good childhood memory and jimmied open the door. I went to Disney World.

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Cry Uncle
Jill Lesley Jill Lesley

Cry Uncle

These are the friends who you’ll stay up late with, spilling wine on your jammies. The ones you’ll stumble down to the beach with, hot coffee in hand, for some morning yoga. The ones whose job it is to restore you. The ones who will make you feel 18 and invincible.

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