“I am.” Letitia Blanker on surviving when life collapsed

When I asked Letitia Blanker how she was doing, she answered with two words: “I am.” In this conversation, Letitia opens up about a season when everything seemed to land at once: her father’s sudden illness, the end of a 20-year relationship, selling her home, losing her job—and then a breast cancer diagnosis just one month later. What surprised both of us: cancer didn’t break her. It gave her structure and even purpose for a time. We also talk about: Why she always wears purple, and what it means to her Discovering she’s highly gifted at 58, and how that reframed her story Her dream of becoming a different kind of funeral guide Living with the aftermath of loss while still moving forward It’s not a tidy story. But it’s an honest one—and if you’re in a hard stretch yourself, I think Letitia’s words will feel like company.