Personal Reflections

Sometimes I think that I must be completely nuts.  Maybe I am.  Honestly, I don't care.  When I was in college, there was an entire group of students that referred to me as, "weird girl".  When I found out about this, I asked them why - and they said it was because they couldn't, "figure me out".  They said that I liked to sit and read by myself in the dining hall and that I seemed mysterious.  I always found that comforting in a way...

“When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. ” — Kahlil Gibran Several years ago, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to El Chalten, Argentina.  My friend Brenda and I climbed a peak called Cerro Solo, and we spent 4 days traversing the Patagonian Ice Cap (the 3rd largest in the world).  It was an incredible, indescribably amazing experience.  Among other things, I dislocated my shoulder climbing Cerro...

“ Smile, breathe, and go slowly.” — Thich Nhat Hanh I know that I must not be the only one who finds it hard to "come back" to the world after being immersed in the wilderness for any length of time.  As I plod down the final few miles to my car, I start to feel that familiar sense of anxiety.  When I'm gone for a full day, or even on just an overnight trip, I sometimes don't take my phone off airplane mode for hours after...

“The beginning is always today.” — Mary Shelley I love the idea of a reset.  A refresh.  A new start.  A time set aside to clear out all the "noise" and focus on being in the present.  This weekend my husband and I did something that we had been talking about for awhile - we climbed the 2nd largest volcano in Washington State as a "dayhike".  The majority of people who climb Mt. Adams typically divide up the nearly 7000' of elevation gain into two days, but...

“Our mothers always remain the strangest, craziest people we’ve ever met. ” — Marguerite Duras To my mom: Not including the countless hikes that we did as a kid and random day hikes that I'm not remembering, I estimate that we have backpacked and/or climbed over 304 miles together in the past 8 years.  This is relatively remarkable, because you live on the other side of the country from me.  But every single year, without fail, you make a migration westward so that we can complete our annual backpacking...

“You hear them when you try to fall asleep They crash to the shore, they come from the deep As sure as the sun will rise, the sun will set You taste the salt the closer you get Waves Picking you up Pushing you down They’re always around Waves Just like dream Silver and green We live in between They can carry you all the way to me They can pull you out to the deep blue sea Oh waves, there are waves” — "Waves", Blondfire I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but sometimes I just feel a bit "off". ...

““It seems to me that television is exactly like a gun. Your enjoyment of it is determined by which end of it you’re on.”” — Alfred Hitchcock The first time I ever looked at a gun was in a sporting goods store when I was 16 or 17 years old.  I was peering hesitantly through the glass counter top, and the sales clerk asked me if I wanted to look at one, "Really?", I asked with a shaky voice.  He gently took a revolver out from locked...

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” — Lao Tzu Yesterday, I was mindlessly perusing Instagram.  I hate when I do that, but I did it anyway, against my better judgement.  I was scrolling through a particularly delightful feed of "lifestyle" photographs, when I noticed that I was using the images to gauge the quality of my own life.  The woman in the...