HI! You’ve found me.

Welcome to my little space on the inter-webs; nice to meet you– I’m so glad you are here. And you may be asking ‘why start [another] blog in the Year of our Lord 2020 when we are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic and no one reads anything anymore?’ Well, that’s just part of my charm, I guess. Besides, who knows, one day reading may come back in style. After all, podcasts are just like the radio shows of the 1920s. Slightly more interesting contest from podcasts these days, and who knows maybe I’ll make a podcast or YouTube channel some day (I doubt it, but I’ve learned to never say never). Besides, I’ve literally being writing my entire life, and I’ve been dabbling in writing on the internet since 2005. [I’m not one to wax nostalgic about the past, but the Internet was waaaay better in 2005. It was still new and shiny. And haters weren’t quite hating’ yet.] Anyway, thank you so much for stopping by–I hope you’ll stick around and keep reading!

Michelle. River Seine. Paris layover en route to Kenya. 2023

Blog Beginnings

On Sunday Morning officially started in 2018 as a Peace Corps blog and has morphed into my pandemic project and is an amalgam of all the photos and journals I’ve had before. My first blog was my first attempt at creative non-fiction or perhaps realistic fiction where a made up character wrote about life as a healthcare worker as she journeys from student to physician with a stop as a respiratory therapist in a level 1 trauma center/ level 3 NICU and PICU. My next blog focused on my 16-month journey through every country in South America. My 3rd blog focused on random travel experiences in USA and Europe, and finally, there is this one– a collection of my experiences as a Peace Corps Health Volunteer In Rwanda as a member of Health Cohort 10 serving from 2018-2020. 

The day I became a Peace Corps Volunteer

My goal is to merge all those experiences into one, cohesive blog that will [sort of] read like an autobiography of sorts–with a healthy dose of realistic content, creative non-fiction, photography, and travelogues. Is this even possible? I don’t know, but this is my story and I hope to tell it well.

So is On Sunday Morning a travel blog?

Not exclusively. Traveling is one of my favorite activities, but I’m not exactly in the most ideal position to write a blog that focuses on traveling the world. I have a career in a decidedly not travel related field. I have yet to go to South East Asia, or Central Asia or any parts of Asia, really. Still haven’t made it to Australia. Or New Zealand. Or the Middle East. 

But I want to–one day–and my bucket list gets longer every day. So, obviously, I can’t really give any profound travel advice about going to places I’ve never been. 

I always hurt myself without even doing anything adventurous and I always forget something crucial. Like my passport. It’s no secret that I honestly don’t have a clue when it comes to round the world planning, or packing, or malaria prevention. I actually got malaria while taking said pills. And didn’t when I eschewed prophylaxis. I often “wing it” about things I definitely should not “wing”, and consistently overthink things I should have let go years ago. Welcome to my brain.

Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida

So Is it a personal blog?

Well, not exactly. I mean it’s personal to me, but certainly not a daily log of my life.

I am passionate about travel, hiking, exploring, grass roots health care, education, mental health, healing trauma, good conservation, reading, and creating ( and finding!) the perfect combination of soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.

Cumberland Island, GA

I have studied monkeys and tagged turtles in the wild, fell in love with lemurs, and chased cats all over the world. I’ve rescued sea turtles on the Atlantic coast, taught health classes in Spanish [and Kinyarwanda, Kiswahili, and English], and built proper stoves for ventilation in the Andes mountains. I’ve brought babies into the world and seen them out. Toxicology, forensics, and wilderness medicine cause me to geek out. Mental health is my jam.

I am cynical but optimistic, tough but kind, honest, sarcastic, introverted, yet assertive. Working in health care has given me an appreciation of dark humor. Myers-Briggs calls me a INFP. It means for the life of me I cannot make concrete plans; it also means that I am an introvert, intuitive, and that I am sensitive. And if enneagram is more your style, I’m 4 or a 9 depending on the day I take it.

Wandering without being lost–Laguna Miscanti, Atacama Desert, Chile 2010

Life is not meant to be rush through– hurried, anxious and rushed. We’ve been told many times before that this is not a dress rehearsal, but know all too well that this is also not a play. This is life and the only one we’ve been bestowed with – let us occasionally remind ourselves of that. My life has never followed a linear grid and I’m constantly taking what most people consider ‘a chance.’

This best way to read this blog–at least in the beginning– is to pick a topic by page and on each page will be all the entries associated with that topic. For example, Peace Corps will have all my entries related applying for, packing for, and serving in the Peace Corps.

The Night Shift was my attempt at writing creative non-fiction. This story follows the protagonist through her journey as a person who works in health care. And love. And life.

Adventures Afoot categorizes all my travel adventures… some hiking and backpacking, some city escapes, some road trips, and some solo, and some group travels. Essentially there’s a little bit of everything, but think of stories instead of guides or How-tos.

Slow down. Breathe. Live

Stick around. I promise… you’ll want to see what I do.