Hey Reader,
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Not going to lie, this has been a tough week.

Of the tons of tough things going on in the world, I’ve been particularly heartbroken watching the news out of Texas, where catastrophic flooding in Kerr County has taken lives, destroyed homes, and left families searching for missing loved ones, many of them children. If you’ve been to that part of Texas, you know it’s not just a dot on a map—it’s the kind of place that stays with you.

I know it’s stayed with me.
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I’ve spent time in that exact part of Texas—at Lucky Star Art Camp, held every fall at Camp Waldemar. It’s one of my happiest places. A place where women come together to create, reconnect, and maybe drink a little too much wine under the stars (I’m not saying I did this. I’m also not not saying I did this).
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And now, I think of the families in that same community, that same place of beauty and creativity, facing unimaginable loss.

And once again, it brings me back to the idea of not knowing.

Because whether it’s a natural disaster or a decades-old battlefield, when we lose people we love, the worst part is often the not knowing. The waiting. The aching gap where answers should be.
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It’s a feeling that transcends time, place, and circumstance—because loss is loss, no matter where or how it happens.

And it’s why I wanted to share the story of my friend Dr. Debbi Zinni on the Roar podcast.

Debbi leads the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s Laboratory—a mouthful, yes—but what that really means is this: she and her team work to find, recover, and identify the remains of U.S. service members missing from past conflicts like Vietnam, Korea, and World War II.

Her work helps bring people home—sometimes after families have waited for decades in that painful in-between space.

And here’s something I didn’t know until I spoke with her: forensic anthropology is overwhelmingly female-dominated. The women in her field are literally piecing together what’s been broken—applying science and compassion—to help families find the closure they deserve.

👉 You can listen to Debbi’s incredible story here: [When Science Meets Soul with Debbi Zinni]​
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It’s the kind of story that restores a little faith in the quiet, steady ways people are doing good in the world.

The truth is: life has a way of flooding in—sometimes literally, sometimes emotionally. We can’t always stop it. But we can show up for each other in the aftermath.

XO,

Danielle

P.S. If you’d like to help the families impacted by the Texas floods, please consider donating here (the entire Kerrville area) or here (my friend Penny's home).
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