The Beatles played a big part in my life and my relationship with S. This fall I hope to walk down the aisle to their music. I wrote about it for Vogue—see below. Happy #globalbeatlesday! ✌🏻 🎶 🎸 #beatles

#chronicillness #disability

Happy to share with you the most personal of my personal essays—with gratitude to Vogue for letting me write about my experience becoming a bride at the same time I’m becoming an ambulatory wheelchair user. Thanks to all of you who read it and share in our story. ❤️ www.vogue.com/article/find...

Happy to share with you the most personal of my personal essays—with gratitude to Vogue for letting me write about my experience becoming a bride at the same time I’m becoming an ambulatory wheelchair user. Thanks to all of you who read it and share in our story. ❤️ www.vogue.com/article/find...

It’s been a really rough week here. If inclined, send me love.

I’m in that fun limbo state where I’m waiting to hear back about a piece I filed. Wakes up *checks email* Works *checks email* Eats lunch *checks email* Works some more *checks email* Vacuums *checks…

Epigraph from Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny

Time keeps rolling but I am still, and always, thinking of this question. (For anyone interested: Quotes are from The New Yorker’s q&a with novelist Hisham Matar. I wrote the publisher’s guide to his debut novel.)

January daydream come to life

We have the greatest news to share: Shawn asked me to marry him, and it will come as no surprise to everyone who has witnessed all along how happy he makes me that I said yes! Shawn, I love you with all my heart and I can’t wait to be your wife. ❤️

It is wild falling in love and preparing for a wedding during…this.

1/11 ❤️

We have the greatest news to share: Shawn asked me to marry him, and it will come as no surprise to everyone who has witnessed all along how happy he makes me that I said yes! Shawn, I love you with all my heart and I can’t wait to be your wife. ❤️

One of the lovely Christmas gifts I received from Shawn was this embosser, which lets me stamp things with the message “From the library of Je Banach.” It has a book with a garden growing from it. It’s nice when someone knows your heart.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Wishing you love and joy today and always.

My family’s Feast of the Seven Fishes had to be postponed this year, so Shawn and I improvised with a Feast of the…Four Fishes. Wishing you all a very happy Christmas Eve Eve! 🎄

We kicked off the festivities with some baking: lemon macaroons and cinnamon crumb cake 🎄

Christmas nails activated 💅 🎄

#HappyWinterSolstice! I’ve never minded the darker evenings, probably because I enjoy so many of the things we can do indoors (reading, writing, cooking etc.) but how good to remember the triumph of light over darkness. The light will be here again—a little more each day—for those who need it.

Christmasing ctd. We all need a little joy.

Went on a date to see Christmas lights. 🌟

Well, Christmas came early because I landed a pitch! I must have been on the nice list this year. I can’t wait to tell you about this one. Time to get writing…

Salon day—Ernaux hair refresh

Ernaux at the salon 💇🏼‍♀️

All I want for Christmas is to hear back about my pitches and submissions. 🎅

Our family Thanksgiving is postponed as my father is back in the hospital. Would appreciate your prayers and good thoughts for him and my mom. I’ll be spending the day with this guy. ❤️We’ll be making our first T-Day dinner since we got off easy as guests last year. Hope everyone is enjoying the day.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve! The holidays are a wonderful time, but they can also be difficult for a lot of people. Be kind to yourselves and to others. Make the holidays what you want them to be or what you need them to be this year. And share lots of love—tell the people you love that you love them.

This doesn’t just feel like a different time. It feels like an entirely different life, doesn’t it?

Sunday 🌲🪵 ☕️

11/8 ☀️ ☁️ 🍂

Hope everyone got lots of treats today!

Happy Halloween 🎃

Scenes from our fall adventures today

Pumpkin patch day 🎃 (I love a grey fall day.)

Night reading

October is Dysautonomia Awareness Month, and tonight at 10:15 pm EST Niagara Falls will be lit up in blue to bring attention to what is a prevalent and devastating but still very misunderstood and under-researched suite of health conditions. I live with it. www.niagarafallslive.com/niagara_fall...

I tried taking photos of the gorgeous sunset tonight and this is what was on my photo reel when I went back to check the photos…

Pastoral scenes from our drive today

Jia Tolentino’s New Yorker article reminded me that I met Elizabeth Gilbert once—at her parents’ Xmas tree farm. (Got my trees there for years.) It was after she’d written The Last American Man. I bought a copy, and she wrapped up my tree. Orange-scented needles. Neither of us knew what lay ahead.

Thanks to my wheelchair and my favorite guy I was able to go for a stroll (emphasis on ~roll~) at the river trail for the first time in several years. I haven’t been back since my ability to stand and walk became impaired. A bald eagle flew by. It was great to be back. A very moving experience. ❤️

Surprised Shawn with lasagna and miniature iced chocolate Bundt cakes for our anniversary. Hope everyone has a nice weekend. Do something nice for yourself or someone else. ❤️

There’s a special place in heaven for editors who immediately read and respond to what you send them. 🙏

Salon day. It’s been a long while. (I’m smiling. I swear.)

A fun package arrived today. Looking forward to reading this one.

Well, since I can’t contain my excitement, I’ll tell you that I had the best birthday weekend of my life. Shawn took me…here…to look at rings! 💍 😱 (He said it was ok to share—We’re just looking! Nothing happened yet!) It was also my first wheelchair outing. Thurs we did bookstore & ice cream cake.

Last call for book recs!

Writing is what makes you a writer.

For my 1st birthday present I scored an apptmt with my electrophysiologist…on my birthday. “We have an apptmt tomorrow…or next year,” they said. So I’ll be spending part of tomorrow with my electrophysiologist, like all the girls do. And this weekend I’ll be going on my 1st outing in my wheelchair.