It’s so easy to miss the meaning of something with everything that’s swirling around in our brains. And paying attention is hard. Some days I just want to make it to dinner time and then to bedtime.

I’m trained as an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher, having received my endorsement after an intense program at Portland State University. During my studies there, I learned about the acquisition of language, including funny sounding subjects such as glottal stops and schwas. But who knew, years later, that I would continue informally studying linguistics while preparing for surgery and practicing yoga?