Colleen Cook, Thrive Correspondent

Throughout quarantine, I struggled mightily. I felt intense grief for the loss of my normal routine, the regularity of social interaction and a spring filled with big trips that I had eagerly anticipated. Like many people, I felt robbed, but I was also acutely aware of how fortunate I was to, through that time, only […]

As we dip our toes into the very beginning of summer, my two older daughters are getting pretty steady on their bikes, and our short driveway feels limiting to them. So, I extended the boundary and have begun to allow them to ride their bike to the corner and back, and their delight is palpable.  […]

Dear Coco, We have some very obnoxious neighbors. I am talking trash all over the yard, loud music coming from their vehicles, and belittling us to the other neighbors and their friends. We own our house, they are renters, so us moving is not going to be an option. We have called the police, contacted […]

When I became a mother, I felt an unspoken pressure to fill every single free moment with something magical, something memorable, something Instagram-able. We purchased family memberships to the zoo, the children’s museum. We endured numbingly obnoxious stage productions of children’s television shows that our children mildly enjoyed. On summer weekends, we visited the splash […]

When I was growing up, my maternal grandmother who we called “Nanny,” lived about a mile from our house. Nanny came over most days and would sit at our kitchen table and give me “history lessons,” which is to say that she would tell me the stories from her childhood and young adulthood.  I was […]

I spent most of last weekend in bed, in tears. The weight of everything happening in the world paired with the draining nature of isolation on my insatiable extroversion had compounded in my spirit and I was able to do little more than lay still and allow the tears to leak from my eyes. I […]

Dear Coco, I am the Public Relations & Marketing Manager for our Western Square Dance Club. One of my responsibilities is to try and recruit new dancers. Typically our members are mature & senior couples and singles.  One of my objectives this year is to recruit younger couples to come to our fall/winter lessons. Do […]

I was sitting in my junior year psychology class, next to Andy, behind Jessica and Melanie, three of my closest friends at the time. They announced over the PA system that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers in New York City and that teachers were to keep classroom televisions turned off.  The […]

As I write this, I was supposed to be packing for a week in San Diego, attending a conference with two of my friends and coworkers. I’ve never been to California, or the West Coast, and I have been ridiculously excited about the trip for six months.  This spring was supposed to be one of […]