Private Chef, Writer & Podcaster
We spend so much time chasing the shining things—titles, trophies, applause that fades faster than a bad soufflé—but living with sarcoidosis and years of unexpected detours has a funny way of reminding me who really shows up when the cameras aren’t rolling. This little reflection started with a series of questions from Charles Schulz, and let’s just say the answers took me somewhere… unexpected.
Living with sarcoidosis is already its own exhausting full-time job, so the idea of a support group sounded…promising. Or at least not disastrous. But back in the early 2010s, when my lungs and heart were misbehaving like rebellious teenagers, the search for “people like me” turned into something far stranger than comforting. I won’t spoil the whole story here, but let’s just say it involved Christmas ornaments, long train rides, and me realizing the person I actually needed to find was somewhere else entirely. Maybe someone like you.
Tate Basildon 