05/24/2026
After leaving a functional medicine conference in Boise last week, I was home long enough to wash clothes and jump in the car with my kids for a road trip to the east coast.
In Vermont, we met up with Jase (my husband) and several other men from Grand Rapids and all across the U.S. to leave my son to walk into the journey of Boys’ Rites of Passage.
A sacred ceremony weekend held and witnessed by the mountains, rivers, forest, wildlife, and incredible men who have already experienced the transformative effect of fasting and solo journey into the unknown.
The twins and I journeyed to Maine to pray over him and play in the ocean’s tide pools.
I’ll be back in office on Wednesday, but for now we are unplugged, covered in lemon eucalyptus oil (the ticks are fierce here!), and immersed in the wild.
-Dr. Mel