My guest this week is cook and author Caroline Wright. At the age of 32, Caroline was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given one year to live. Three years later she’s beaten the odds, and is full of enthusiasm and hope and vitality. We discussed her very moving children’s book Lasting Love (affiliate link), which is a love letter to her children and also to any family dealing with the loss of a loved one.

To be honest, this was not the conversation I was expecting. I thought we’d talk a lot about the pain and sadness of saying good-bye, but instead we talked about things like the profound lifestyle changes Caroline has made since her diagnosis, her ongoing work as a cookbook author, learning to live with fear, and finding what makes you happy regardless of circumstance. I really enjoyed getting to know Caroline through our conversation. Topics we touched on included:

• Caroline’s surprising diagnosis of a glioblastoma three years ago
• Taking charge of one’s health and healthcare
• The value of an anti-inflammatory diet
• Caroline’s current health status
• How my guest has changed from pre- to post-cancer
• The balance that Caroline has found as part of her healing
• Taking control of how we direct our energy
• Dealing with the unknown in the context of Covid-19
• Learning to live with fear, and still finding joy
• Finding what makes you happy regardless of circumstances
• How Caroline came to write a book for her two sons about dying and a mother’s eternal love
• What we most want for our kids
• My guest’s thoughts about the afterlife
• The indelible imprint our love and energy leave on others
• The ability that is within all of us to do extremely hard things when required to
• The mistaken ideas we tend to have about “cancer patients”

To sign up for Caroline’s newsletter, visit her writing website, and learn more about her cooking at her food website and through her recipes. Her previous books include (affiliate links):

• Cake Magic
• Twenty-Dollar, Twenty-Minute Meals* (*For Four People)
• Catalan Food: Culture and Flavors from the Mediterranean

Caroline Wright is an author and a cook. She was working on her third cookbook in the winter of 2017 when she was diagnosed with a glioblastoma and given one year to live.

Her diagnosis brought drastic changes to her lifestyle, including the foods she cooked and ate, and brought her life and work into sharp focus—on her two little boys (then one and four years old).

Now her days are spent cooking and writing, still passionately, while fighting her cancer and focusing on her family. She’s working primarily on writing children’s books and a memoir about her life since her diagnosis.

Caroline lives in Seattle with her family, and she writes every day.