This is the 13th essay in the #26essays2017 challenge that I’ve set for myself this year. I’m doing this because I’m the first to admit I’ve become a lazy writer: allowing guest posts and series and cross-posting to make up the bulk of content on The Diane Lee Project across 2016. The brave, fearless writing that readers admired and respected me for has all but disappeared. This year—2017—will be different. I’m reclaiming my voice—my write like a motherfucker voice! I have one daughter, but I always wanted more children. I loved being pregnant, of feeling my baby shift and move and wriggle and squirm. I
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In my last post waaaaaaaay back at the beginning of November, I mentioned that I would be in Vietnam for at least three months, volunteering at KOTO, a social enterprises that trains poor and disadvantaged youth in hospitality. My reasons for being here have been well documented, but for those of you who want the Reader’s Digest version, it goes something like this: I visited Vietnam in 2010, and as part of the tour I was on, we ate lunch at KOTO. I was so impressed, that I vowed to come back one day and volunteer. That day is now. I
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This post was originally posted on WFA.Life. The Freedom Road series documents my transition to a more freelance, less corporate working life. It’s been a while since my last post. Two months, in fact. (Sorry, Andy.) But I haven’t resting on my laurels, licking my wounds, thinking woe is me. I’ve been taking action, and making decisions, and damn it feels good. Two months ago, I applied to volunteer at KOTO in Hanoi, Vietnam. Within a week, I had my response. They wanted me. To say it was one of the happiest pieces of news I’d received in a long time
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