I’m Jodi Ettenberg.

In 2008, after years of working as a corporate lawyer, I quit my job to travel the world for a year.

Except that year turned into two, and then many more. I documented my travels and learning on my site, Legal Nomads. There, I shared how food became my obsession, and the best way I could connect to others in a new place. As a celiac, learning about food helped me navigate my travels with less anxiety and chance of illness.

This site is my home for more personal musings, especially about my journey with chronic illness.

In 2013, I got sick and my body never recovered. I’ve written about the shift in identity that I understood to adjust, and how to cope with the chronic pain that followed.

In 2017, a routine lumbar puncture changed my life and derailed the travel and food business I worked hard to build. While difficult, the subsequent years have allowed me to find gratitude and grace in the small things in life, bringing the same attitude I had on my travels to the minutiae of daily living.

– Jodi