A Perfect Day in the Storm

For two years we have each lived in the circle of our own inner sanctums, leaving the big wide world on the outside. Now the world is trying to creep back in again, swirling with uncertainty and overwhelming us with how fast it’s moving, but instead of trying to keep up with it, or worrying...

White Noise

Photo by J.G. Chayko It’s halfway through the month of May and the sun has made a reappearance after a few days of unsettled overcast weather. I get out of bed feeling the heat in my swollen fingers and shake the morning stiffness from my knees. It’s the one of the few mornings I have...

The Thing About Mornings…

It’s an early Friday morning in February. The mild west coast weather has been draped in an arctic outflow. The white puff of my breath disintegrates in the cold air. It’s a chilly - 3 Celsius (26 Fahrenheit), and I’m sitting on my patio with a hot cup of coffee and taking in the morning....

We’re Almost There…

The west coast windstorms swept in from the ocean drowning December in its usual cyclical trend. This year, the rain and wind seemed particularly heartless in the year we call 2020. When the rain stopped for a few days, the twinkling lights on houses and patios lit up the night sky, and filled the air...

The Gold Outside My Window

“We never saw it coming. We never could have guessed that a virus would change our world. The possibility only existed in movies, and there was always a dynamic hero that came to the rescue with a cure.”  - J.G. Chayko - Imagine RA Network: Chronic Illness in a Pandemic Life. The year is 2020....

The Leading Lady

Beyond the thick red curtain, I can hear the murmur of the audience. I walk the stage through my opening scene, running the lines in my head, my usual ritual before the start of each show. I wonder if I’ll remember my blocking; I wonder how the audience will react; I wonder if I will...

A Pandemic Summer, An Extraordinary Life

Springtime came in quietly this year, lush with vibrant life and cherry blossoms. It was an unusual spring. The commerce that ran our daily lives was suspended in the web of an inhospitable virus. For a few weeks, the human footprint was reduced, and the natural world flourished. Mother Nature was given her chance to...

Resurgence: A Covid life with RA

The sun warms my skin through the window. The mountains rise on either side of the road, green and lush from the spring rains sweeping through the valley. The blue sky is dappled with wisps of high cloud as we drive down the twisting highway. Once over the peak, we dip down into the desert...

The Twilight

The day is nearing its end. The traffic is hushed, the wind wafts softly through the leaves; the birds are singing their evening song. The heaving world is moving into stillness. I sit on my patio and exhale the remains of another day, take a moment to unwind beneath a purple sky pin-pricked with starlight,...

Re-Imagining the New Normal

These are strange days for the world. A viral epidemic has set boundaries on our lives, and cultivated fear in the masses. It’s created an environment where groups and communities compete to set themselves above others, when all of humanity is on equal footing in the face of this outbreak. This is an unprecedented time....