Barbara Wolf Terao was born and raised in Northfield, Minnesota, and now lives on Whidbey Island in Washington. Besides taking on way too many janitor jobs, Dr. Terao has been a teacher, psychologist, Land Ethic Leader, television host, newspaper columnist, book reviewer, and editor. She happily adds mother and now grandmother to that list. Her articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in Orion, The Seattle Times, Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis, Cabin Life, AHP Perspective, and Realize and on her Of the Earth website (ofthebluepla.net). She lives in Freeland, WA.

When Barbara Terao moves into a new home in Washington, two thousand miles from her husband in Illinois, she doesn’t know when—or if—she’ll ever live with him again. Her diagnosis of breast cancer three months later changes both of them in ways they never imagined.

In the ensuing months, Barbara’s husband and adult children show up to help her through a year of difficult treatments and surgery, and Barbara, in her Whidbey Island cottage, learns to listen to her heart and intuition. Nurtured by Douglas fir forests, the Salish Sea, and her community, she changes her life from the inside out. Her journey, she realizes, wasn’t about leaving her husband so much as finding herself. Reconfigured in body, mind, and spirit, Barbara finally has words for what she wants to say—and the strength to be a survivor.