08/01/2026
August 1, 2016 is the day I lost my Mom. I was driving 100 miles an hour down I-25 to Denver trying to make it to the hospital.
They told me she wasn’t in a condition to be able to talk at the moment, and the nurse basically told me the only thing we could do— was hope for a miracle.
A miracle never came. It was 1:22am and the nurse asked me if I could pull over off the side of the road. I refused. I was going to make it there. Her next words, “I want to let you know your Mom is passing right now, is there anything you want to say to her?”
Speechless, I had no words, this wasn’t happening, I was so close, give me 40 more minutes, I’m on my way, everything will be fine, this is a bad dream, wake me up, make this stop.
And then— she was gone.
I arrived to her hospital room 45 minutes after she had passed. The worst day of my life.
My body remembers this day. Every year. And I’ve accepted that it always will. Today is the 10 year anniversary of her death. A number that seems surreal. How can I have lived this long without her? If she was here today, she wouldn’t even recognize the woman I’ve become.
This moment in time sparked the most unimaginable shift in my life. Growing up faster than I wanted, years of grief, and a wreckage that permeated out into my closest relationships.
Yoga saved me. Though not always pretty, it’s what brought me to myself. The self underneath the story of loss and pain. I learned how to harness her energy and wisdom within me and created the most beautiful and amazing thing I could have possibly imagined from the ashes of it all.
I thought I was going back to grad school.
Turns out— I was starting a movement.
Wanderlotus. đź’ś
Birthed from the ashes.
A reminder to all, that we can heal through the things that we thought would break us. The work is an inward journey, and a devotion to your highest Self. Beauty can exist after pain. Life is beautiful. And you are deserving of it all.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for witnessing this journey.
And today, I cheers to my mother, Kathie. As her soul lives on in the interweaving of this beautiful creation of Wanderlotus. ✨
Just like a Lotus,
Through the mud— we rise. 🙏