How Nature Quietly Changed My Life
A first Journal entry from Nurse TLC
Sometimes, the life we planned isn’t the life we find ourselves living.
If you were sitting across from me right now, I’d pour you a cup of tea and tell you how I got here. How a childhood spent beside a river, a career in nursing, and an unexpected change in my health led to Healing on Wheels Apothecary.
So, settle in with something warm. I’m glad you’re here.
It started long before nursing
There’s a photograph of my mom holding me in the forest on my first camping trip. I was a year old. When people ask why I love being outdoors, I think of that picture. I don’t remember a time when nature wasn’t part of my life.
I grew up along a river, where my dad’s work with Southern California Edison provided housing near the power plant. My grandmother took me hiking along the river and mountain trails. We searched for little treasures, and she taught me about the plants growing around us.
Back then, I thought she was teaching me about nature. Looking back, she was also teaching me how to pay attention—to notice my surroundings, stay safe, and appreciate what was growing nearby.
Those lessons stayed with me.
When life changed
Eventually, I became a nurse. I loved caring for people. Helping others has always felt like part of who I am.
Then my own health changed. My genetic condition brought one challenge after another, and at 48, I had to medically retire from direct patient care. Around the same time, I closed my business. The following year, the pandemic arrived.
So much of the life I knew had shifted. I found myself asking, What now?
One thing felt familiar: whenever life had been difficult, I had always found comfort outside. The mountains. The river. A campsite. Fresh air.
My husband and I built a van that could accommodate both of our health needs and help us keep spending time in the places we loved. I thought we were creating a way to travel. I hadn’t realized how much it would change our everyday lives.
It taught me something I wish I’d understood sooner:
I don’t have to force my body into a life that no longer fits. I can build a life that fits the body I have today.
Learning to live differently
Living with chronic illness has meant learning to slow down, listen to my body, and make room for things that bring comfort and meaning to my days.
Sometimes that’s time outside with Sagie nearby. Sometimes it’s making soap with my hands or letting a cup of tea steep while I pause for a few minutes.
These small rituals have become an important part of how I care for myself.
Healing on Wheels is becoming less about how far I travel and more about how I’m learning to live again. The apothecary has grown naturally from that experience—a way to share some of the care and comfort I’m creating in my own life.
It brings together so much of what I love: nursing, nature, creating with my hands, and connecting with people.
Something new to share over tea
I’ve loved tea for as long as I can remember. Over the past several months, I’ve been developing a botanical tea collection inspired by the places that have shaped my life.
For my first Tea Talk, I chose Pacific Paradise, a blend of black tea, mango, and pineapple. It’s one of four hand-blended teas I’m introducing to the shop, alongside a Tea Ritual Set with a tea press and my Nature Knows the Way mug.
During the quieter months when I wasn’t sharing videos, I was working on this collection. I’m proud of what it has become, and happy to finally share it with you.
My hope is that something from this little mobile apothecary finds a place in your own everyday rituals—a warm cup, a quiet moment, a little time set aside for yourself.
Welcome to my Journal. I’ll be sharing more here about nature, life with chronic illness, and the stories behind the things I create.
For now, thank you for sitting with me over tea.
With care,
Nurse TLC