Maybe it’s a little over-done to write a post looking back at the year around New Year’s, but 2024 has been a big year for me with profound change and transitions. The first full year, of rebalancing my personal and professional life. A full year answering only to myself, and a year when I took my “side hustles“ (as I like to endearingly call them) more seriously. It was a year that helped me reveal the imbalances I had been living, and with restructuring, let me see what living IN balance looks like…Balance in work, health (SLEEP!!), and personal time. OK, there was a lot of travel last year too, but I had some destinations I’d put off going to for many years and had the chance, so I ran with it.
It began with a trip to La Ventana, Baja, Mexico, where I stayed for most of the trip solo. I met some awesome people, experienced incredible beauty in the ocean and surrounding mountains, and simply took stock of my life. It gave me the space to ask myself “what do I do with more time and resources”? I am a human that loves to travel and play, but crucially important that I’m also productive, and for me that requires (some) structure…hmmmm.
Within the first few days of arriving in Mexico I made a friend–a woman from Fernie whose husband and she live part time in La Ventana down the road from “Casa de Jeffe”, and after chatting on the beach for 15 minutes, swooped me into her group of Canadian friends. Sarah is a rare and wonderful blend of wildly compassionate and no-bullshit kind of person. She puts you at ease and doesn’t mess with small talk–my kind of friend!
The trip was nothing short of transformational, and it set the stage for the additional excursions I took in 2024. It also helped me envision how I want to spend my “not travel and adventuring” time. (I’m highly aware that is a very First World, privileged Bend-bubble statement to make).
After La Ventana, I went to Washington DC where I met up with my scientist friend Kirk, who had invited me out to tour the private collections of the Smithsonian–really an incredible opportunity. I’d gotten into the study of Deep Time and paleontology, so this was somewhat of a dream trip. I absolutely adore DC–a city I’d been to a few times but only really seen the suburbs. Now, having had the red-carpet tour I’m a big big fan. What was my key learning take-away from this trip? If you put your mind to something, you can make it happen. Looking forward to 2025 I want to get back into my sciencey-nerdy activities again, which I’ve somewhat put on the back-burner this last year. I mean I have the lingo and everything with terms like “sciencey-nerdy”…Ha! (Full disclosure, Kirk agrees I’m really bad at identifying fossils). Ah well. Another learning moment!! You don’t actually have to be good at something to enjoy it.
After Washington DC I ventured out on a road trip with my sis, to the Oregon Coast for her birthday and not too long after flew to Missoula. Both of these experiences reminded me the awesomeness of family/chosen family. It’s incredibly grounding to be with people who have been through the good, bad and ugly with you, and still choose to include you in their forever-life. Friends and relationships come and go–“family” for me is defined as those people who decide to be in your life regardless of blood, even when it’s “hard” or uncomfortable. I got to hang out with two of those people in Missoula! Yay!!
After Missoula was a trip to Northern California, where I paddled the South Fork of the American with River SUP Guy, Davide Sartoni. My intention was to paddle a river that made me slightly uncomfortable with someone I know has a higher level of paddleboard skills than me. For the majority of my years doing whitewater SUP, I’d paddled with someone who I felt extremely comfortable…maybe even too comfortable, and became lazy reading and running rivers myself–kind of like “mental training wheels”. Davide and I had a heck of a good time and while the river stretch itself wasn’t intimidating, it was fun seeing a new river and paddling with a rad guy. I’d also turned the trip to Cali into an adventure with my sister, doing lots of hiking and sightseeing along the way (and eating great food…always a plus when traveling).
I stayed put in Bend all of August, largely to paddle some local rivers, and then September took me to Lake Tahoe to co-teach a SUP ACA certification, and then to Stevenson, Washington for my cousin’s wedding, and finally a trip to Vermont in October for (co-worker & friends) Topher and Michelle’s wedding. A crew of us from Bend made the journey and it was FUN. Site-seeing, parties, ceremonies, more parties. Not a lot there to unpack…just a whole bunch of love and joy all the way around.
Which brings me to now.
For me, when I reflect on where I’m “at” and the pursuit of self-development, I believe the real growth doesn’t happen in the adventures, but rather in the mundane. A wise man and spiritual mentor of mine once told me that it’s easy to meditate on a mountain top. In other words, when conditions are perfect, it’s a lot easier for things to feel hunky-dory. Meditation with interruption, noise, overstimulation and adversity is the challenge! This is probably the same with life. Having “epics”, traveling and doing all the fun things is… well, really fun! So fun, in fact that we can confuse the immediate emotion for overall happiness or joy. Don’t get me wrong, I love the hell out of my travels and excursions with friends. Paddling. Biking. Theater. Dinners out. But what happens when you sit home alone? What happens when you’re not traveling? Maybe you get sick, have an injury, run out of money, run out of time…. or just simply sit still for a minute to figure out who you are and what you want to make of your life.
After returning from Vermont, I made the decision to stay home. To dig in deeper. Dig in to my community which I’d felt somewhat disassociated from, having spent so much time outside of Bend for the previous 8 years. Dig in deeper to my professional life–my team with Tumalo Creek and my clients with Happy Well and private instruction. I gotta say, I’m loving it. So much so that I’m rolling with staying put (mostly) until I head out in the spring.
Looking forward…what’s ahead? I’m really excited to begin offering “Happy Well” workshops in a group setting. My sister will be joining me on some of these events– without her the HW accountability approach wouldn’t have coalesced and her journey is both admirable and inspiring. I’m really proud of what we’ll be offering and I’m excited to share it.
The winter will be over in about 3 seconds, so I’m also looking beyond to the summer and a fuller paddling schedule. So much joy getting on the water and supporting people who are new to the sport of whitewater sup! And there will be more work with my mentor to complete my process of becoming an ACA IT.
As I reflect back, plan forward and most importantly sit in the present, the biggest emotion I’m feeling is gratitude. For what has been (2024 and prior) and what might come (nothing is guaranteed and every day is a gift). SO much gratitude for my community–my family and my chosen family. My co-workers (who are family). My “things”–it isn’t lost on me how many people do without the necessities let alone the prevalence I live with. My experiences!! How rich do I feel having been able to do the various things I’ve been lucky enough to see, touch, taste and do in my life!!! Lucky lucky lucky and soooo thankful.
Sorry for the “gush”. Thanks for listening….see ya out there on the frisky ripples!!
Frisky Ripples 
Sorry I have been absent. Deb has had a very big year of change. My cous
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