This is a space for the in-between moments.
The pauses.
The deep breaths taken when life finally slows enough to notice them.
I’m in my 50s, married to my favorite human for more than 30 years, and sharing my days with two opinionated cats who believe laps exist solely for their comfort. My life didn’t unfold the way I once imagined, but it unfolded into something gentler, truer, and far more meaningful.
A few years ago, my husband and I left behind four decades in Florida and followed a quiet nudge toward change. We landed in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia, unsure of what was next, only certain that we needed less noise and more clarity. What followed was a season of shedding – things, titles, expectations – and facing a very real now what?
That question became an invitation.
These days, my life is built around small, grounding rituals: time in nature, yoga and meditation, long conversations with my husband, books that linger in the soul, and the steady comfort of cats curled nearby. I’m learning that peace doesn’t arrive all at once, it shows up in the margins of ordinary days if we’re willing to look for it.
My writing changed when I did. Somewhere along the way, productivity gave way to presence. Hustle softened into intention. I began writing less about doing and more about being.
This blog isn’t about perfection or performance. It’s about slowing down. About noticing beauty where you didn’t think to look. About honoring the quiet seasons, the resets, and the moments that don’t ask to be shared, but matter deeply when they are.
I don’t write to reach everyone.
But if you’ve found your way here, I hope you find something that resonates –
a breath of calm, a spark of reflection, or permission to create peace in your own margins.
Welcome. 🌿
Alicia Manautou 