We didn’t mean to be gone this long.

After what felt like being hit with grief again, a hard holiday season, illness, and the quiet realization of stepping into another year without Bella, we’re finally back. In this first episode of 2026, Lyle joins me for an honest check-in as we talk about recent travel and a Disney World recap, what surprised us, what helped, and what we’d do differently, alongside the deeper conversations we didn’t expect to be having. We open up about second-year grief, how it shows up differently than the first, and what it looks like to try to support each other in a marriage when both cups are empty. This is a real conversation about showing up changed, still learning, and choosing to come back anyway.