Welcome, dear reader. Whether you’ve been with me for years or have just found HoneyGood.com, I want to reintroduce myself. I am Honey Good: a wife, mother, grandmother, writer, and woman who has walked through life’s valleys and climbed its hills. Along the way, I’ve learned how to feed my soul, and it is my joy to share those lessons with you.

I Have Learned How to Feed My Soul

It has taken me years of sobering experiences to finally acknowledge this truth: I am a woman at peace with herself. That peace did not arrive easily, nor did it appear overnight. It came through experiences (some joyful, some painful) and interactions with people who played pivotal roles in my life. The discipline of authentic journaling over the past decade has also played an important role. These have been my greatest teachers.

Like every woman, I have traveled my share of hills and valleys. Unlike many, I have been blessed with the ability to sprinkle my valleys with hope and actively seek out positive solutions. But make no mistake, I work at it… I work very hard at it.

My Valleys and My Lessons

I have wrestled with the realities of growing up as a minority, widowhood in my forties, remarriage, the blending of his and her children, a cancer diagnosis, friendships gained and lost, estrangement from adult daughters, disappointments of all kinds, and now, the daily challenge of caring for my Ultimate Concierge, Sheldon F. Good, who suffers from vascular dementia.

Life has also required me to learn how to be the head of my household without my Ultimate Concierge‘s assistance. I have faced isolation and loneliness because of Shelly’s illness, and I have lived with chronic grief. I allow myself to feel the weight of that grief. I have sobbed daily, but I rise, using personal productivity, purposeful projects, and self-expression as counterweights to sorrow.

Through it all, I have learned to share my valleys openly, without hidden agenda. My goal is simple:

to show other women that with positive purpose, a curious mind, and consistent effort, anything is possible.

A Guitar, a Pooch, and a Wheel of Life

My pooch, America, sits beside me on the couch while I strum gently on my new guitar. YES! I’ve decided to learn to learn to play guitar (proof that curiosity and creativity have no expiration date). As I play, I feel my body relax, my mind wander, and my spirit whisper, “I am at peace with myself.”

I see my life as a bicycle wheel, its spokes representing the chapters of my journey. Some are bright, others tarnished, but together they hold me upright. Marriage, motherhood, friendships, community, travel, authorship, Cancer, widowhood, estrangement, blended family life, self care, and my work at HoneyGood.com… these are all spokes that form my whole wheel.

Within each spoke lie subchapters filled with lessons. I’ve learned the value of deep love, emotional and intellectual courage, authenticity, curiosity, grieving honestly, blending a family, conquering fear, living with a clear conscience, and never, EVER succumbing to apathy.

The Gift of Authentic Writing

When I first began writing my Sunday Stories, I thought I was simply sharing my thoughts. What I discovered was much greater: the act of writing became my journal of self-analysis, my mirror. Over time, I came to understand Shakespeare’s words: to thine own self be true.

Five years into writing, I woke up one morning with an astonishing realization: I knew the real me. It was the most delicious feeling. Something that was even more meaningful was realizing that my self-discovery was helping other women feel better about their own lives. That knowledge made me feel even more worthy.

My Family Story

The shape of my life always begins with family. I was widowed in my forties when my first husband died suddenly of a heart attack. After a year of grieving, I moved my children to Chicago to be near my parents. It was in Chicago that I met Shelly, my Ultimate Concierge. We were both widowed, and we built the most loving relationship, a blended family of children and grandchildren. We literally saw the world with rose colored glasses. 

Blended families bring both joy and challenge. I write about the intricacies of step-motherhood, about grieving while remarried, and about learning to honor the pain of my own children while navigating new roles. I’ve also written about the courage it takes to move across an ocean, as I did when I relocated to Honolulu years ago with no friends or connections, and about the community and friendships that grew because I dared to step outside my comfort zone.

What I Hope to Give You

My life’s story is not only about love and success, but also about loss, grief, resilience, and renewal. Through every chapter, I have sought meaning and tried to turn my struggles into sources of strength, not only for myself, but for you, my reader.

If you take anything from my story, I hope it is this: you can rise, even from your deepest valleys. You can feed your soul with curiosity, purpose, authenticity, and love. And you can live a life that feels whole, even when parts of your story remain unfinished.

I’ve lived,  learned, and loved much and in the process I’ve earned my PhD in life.  I have learned how to feed my soul, how to rise from valleys with hope, and how to live with authenticity and peace. I invite you, dear reader, to join me every Sunday Morning and share our journey together.  Amen.