The Art of Human Connection

When I woke up on launch day on Monday, I thought of the 13-year-old version of me jumping up and down and screaming with excitement because his book had been published. His thoughts and words have been perfect bound or electronically transmitted to share with anyone! This introverted kid holed up in his room with a piece of plywood as his lap desk so he could scrawl on college ruled notebooks, telling stories and imagining all kinds of things. He was quiet, kind, and shy, bu

I've been rehearsing this moment in my head for a while now. Not the launch itself—the feeling I thought I'd have when it finally arrived. I imagined something cinematic. Maybe a swelling soundtrack. At minimum, a sense of profound certainty that I'd done something meaningful. Instead, I woke up this morning, made coffee, and sat with Hudson for a few minutes before my brain fully caught up to the date. March 23, 2026. Launch day. And then the other thing hit me. Twenty-five

I was interviewed recently about my upcoming book, The Luck We Carry: Love, Loss, and the Stories That Shape Us . I was a little nervous going in, but I kept talking myself down. What question could the host possibly ask me about the book that I couldn't answer? I wrote it. That helped. Mostly. But once the show started, none of that mattered. All I wanted was to be present — to engage with my friend Alan Locher, and talk about one of my favorite subjects: Ken, and the book t