ALISHA BASHAW is a writer, musical theater enthusiast, and an equine and mental health therapist. While in graduate school across the country from her family in 2012, her parents suffered illnesses that took Alisha back and forth between duty and desire, mystery and the known, and pursuit of her own identity and caregiving for family. She began the long stint of learning to let go of the things she held dearest while completing grad school and eventually moving home to help care for her folks. After a five-year battle with death, Alisha’s parents passed, and Alisha began to learn how to live life as a young adult orphan. With a front row seat to her parents’ declines, and a battle between guilt and individuation of her own, Alisha sought meaning for herself and her parents through the healing world of organ donation. She sees life as a story, and couldn’t get through hers without playing and singing music, hanging with her two beloved cats, Olive and Stinker (Pax), and reveling in the immense power of kindness. She fully embraces the belief that “I don’t know” is a complete answer, and that love and mystery prevail. She resides in Aurora, Colorado. .