14 year soberversary

I've been sober 14 years as of June, and it's been an interesting and eventful year.

In late January we experienced an ice storm and a series of cold fronts that kept the entire area in a deep freeze for several weeks.  We ended up living in one of our rental properties as our driveway was impassable.  Just as the weather started to clear and things seemed to get back to normal, a wind storm pushed a white oak onto Black Bear, tearing a hole in the roof.  It took about six weeks to complete repairs and put the property back into service, but it got done thanks to Caroline's ability to wrangle people and make things happen.

We did drive to Yakima, Washington to get the truck camper and that was quite an adventure!  The Great Plains get intense winds in the winter. Combine that with bitter cold weather, some snow and icy roads, and things can get wild.  At one point were holed up in Laramie, Wyoming waiting for the pass to open, and when it did we hopped on the highway and it was carnage!  Semi trucks scattered off the side of the freeway, we lost grip more times than I can count and this was in a 4x4 truck with three-peak snow-rated tires.  Kept it pointed straight, stayed calm, and we got through.

After we picked up the camper in Yakima we headed to the Canadian Rockies for a quick lap on the Powder Highway, named for the world-class ski resorts clustered along the route.  First stop was Red Mountain. Snowpack was low there, so we moved on to Revelstoke, which was a revelation.  Everything about it was incredible.  Caroline and I found a shared love of boondocking in the winter and the conditions on the mountain were like nothing I've ever experienced with nearly five-thousand feet of vertical per lap.

After Revelstoke we moved on to the Banff area, passing through Glacier National Park on the way. 

We stayed around Banff for a few days and honestly didn't want to leave, what a special place.

We reluctantly headed home and went back to the grind.  A few weeks later I took the grandkids on an epic ski tour of Vermont and Upstate New York that I'm sure they will remember for a long time.

In early summer Caroline, the the grandkids, and I went mountain biking at Snowshoe, and we found 4 of us was a bit tight in the camper.   The grandkids were more distant, and definitely didn't want us telling them what to do, and there was some tension.  It left Caroline and me with a lot to think about, and there's been definite redrawing of boundaries and expectations.  Letting go is hard, but we're doing it.  We ended up not visiting them as much as we thought we would, but having a camper has been a big quality of life improvement and we're so glad we purchased it.

My mountain biking has continued to get better and I've stayed healthy so that's been great.

I had to put my dog down, and it still hurts to think about it.  Caroline got a puppy recently and puppy energy is the best, so it balances out I guess

My focal points for now are to make improvements in how I communicate (which is mostly about listening better), rolling some of my work over the last 18 months into a new book, and getting back into the habit of being more frugal so we can de-leverage our real estate portfolio in the face of macroeconomic headwinds.  There's going to be less travel on account of diesel being so expensive but we'll still take some shorter trips, and we're hoping to get to Canada once in winter and once in spring

None of these adventures happen without sobriety.  That is the foundation, the bedrock upon which everything rests.

May you care for yourself with ease,

-s