I am American born from a small German town in Minnesota called New Ulm. My father is all German and my mother is both German and Swedish.

My soul mate and the love of my life is my Iraqi born husband who I have been married to for twenty-seven years. Like all couples we have had our ups and downs, and if I could do it all again, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Together we have two sons. My oldest lives and attends Stanford University in California as a graduate student. I consider him to be one of my very best friends. My youngest will be in high school next year and is a constant source of entertainment for us. I also consider him as one of my very best friends.

My husband is the only member of his family who left Baghdad. He left in the late seventies and did not return until 10 years later.

In the summer of 1989, Iraq was at peace and we traveled with our oldest son to Baghdad to meet his family. It was one of the most beautiful times of my life. His family accepted me with open arms and showed me everything they could fit in during our short stay. We visited museums with ancient artifacts, beautiful mosques with exquisitely adorned tiles on the floors and walls, and Babylon, home to King Hammurabi, author of one of the first written code of laws in recorded history and home of King Nebuchadrezzar II who is remembered for his monumental building and the hanging gardens in which the legends say he had built for his wife.

My husband is also from a large family, so we spent the rest of the time going from house to house eating dinner, meeting family and drinking tea. My most memorable moments however, were when the sun went down, we would move out to the garden in front of their home, freshly watered and pleasantly cool, and we would talk until the wee hours of the night. I remember lingering on every word, even those I could not understand, and feeling completely at peace. Little did I know that whilst planning for the next visit, war would soon set in, sanctions would follow and all would end in terror.

Since that time I have struggled trying to make sense of all that has happened. My emotions wavered in cycles. I went from anger to depression, anxiety to panic and back again to anger. All that I had believed about country, religion and people came crashing down on me.

In time I learned that if I wanted peace in my life and to be able to spread peace to others, I would need to be the peace I sought for.

I started my journey by turning off the news, I proceeded to let go of all my instilled beliefs ingrained in me since birth and opened my mind and heart to all new things and followed my instincts.

I began meditating every morning and started learning about all forms of spirituality. My mind was open to everything. The more I let go the more I saw that we are all one in the same. The more I let go the more I more I began to see that peace radiates from within and I soon started to feel more and more at peace.

So this is my continuing journey. I invite you to join me as I explore new ways to be inspired, to surround myself with joy, and to illuminate the feeling of peace to others.

My dream is that one day, I will go back to Baghdad with my husband, and in the evenings we will again sit in the freshly watered garden and talk until the wee hours of the morning about how we endeavored our struggles and finally came home to peace.