Hey.
John Conrad here.
My wife and I put this together from our living room — no staff, no office, just a laptop and a kitchen table.
I'm not your typical op-ed writer. I'm in training as a cancer surgeon, and most of what I write is inspired by the kinds of conversations I tend to have — with patients, with friends, with anyone willing to be honest about what actually matters in life.
That might seem like an odd pairing — surgery and essay writing — but they come from the same place. In my world, you're constantly reminded that life is precious, that it matters how we spend it, and that the people who came before us figured out more than we give them credit for. I started writing because I wanted to sit with those truths longer than a busy life usually allows.
Each week I write an essay that tries to say something honest about how we live — and how we might live life a little more richly. One week it's the terrifying suddenness of becoming a parent. The next it's that feeling at a wedding when the bride beams and your chest aches with joy for someone you love. Always, it means taking some old piece of wisdom and making it feel relevant again.
A mayfly spends a full year preparing for a single day above the water. I love that image. The wisdom is already there. We just have to slow down long enough to find it.
Pull up a chair. We saved you a spot.
John Conrad
Editor, The Mayfly Letter
