Happy 12th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 12th Re-Birthday to Me! 

Before I was reborn, there was so much I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to bike and travel and see the world. I wanted to explore my curiosities, live my values, and give life to my dreams. I did not want to spend my days plugging away at a career I didn't love. And so I said "no more." Twelve year ago today I quit my job. I downsized my belongings and responsibilities and began living as a funemployed, home-less, and sometimes car-free bohemian. 

Re-birthing myself was not easy. It is, after all, hard to swim upstream when everyone and everything else is moving in the opposite direction. But I gave myself permission to take the leap, and I trusted that I would find my way. I'm so incredibly grateful I did. This new life I chose to live twelve years ago has given me a level of contentment that I never would have imagined. Simplicity has brought with it richness that money could not afford.

Here are some highlights from the past year:

• I spent three weeks visiting my family in the Chicago suburbs. I walked more than 80 miles during my visits, many of them with my adorable new doggie niece, Corina.
  
• I traveled with my Mom to Africa for a two-week safari. We visited Tarangire & Ngorongoro and The Serengeti, we learned about the Tanzanian culture, we took a hot air balloon ride over the African plains, and we observed some big kitties in the wild. 
  
• I developed a special friendship with the amazing Andy Cox (aka @doubletrackfanatic), creator of the European Divide Trail. Andy travelled halfway across the globe to spend two weeks visiting me in Seattle. Later, I travelled to the UK to spend two weeks in Andy's world. While in England, I enjoyed helping Andy navigate his narrowboat down the Oxford Canal, walking the many footpaths that criss-cross the shire, riding bikes in the twee countryside, and of course, relishing in the funny way the Brits speak. 
  
• I enjoyed two separate late-spring bikepacking trips to the Methow Valley with my long-time adventure buddy, Alan. We road lots of single and double-track routes and biked up to Harts Pass, a bucket list ride for me.
  
• I biked, paddleboarded, hiked, and ran trails for two weeks in Anacortes, all while sitting for two lovely kitties at a gorgeous home on the Salish Sea.
  
• I met a new friend, Kari, who has felt like a long-lost sister to me. We enjoyed two packrafting adventures together — one via bike and one via hike. And Kari taught me how to carve a wooden spoon!
  
• I hiked multiple times in Mt Baker's playground. Holy hubba hubba! 
  
• I was joined by my mom for a week in the Pacific NW. After years of trying to convince her to move out to Washington, I think I've finally succeeded. If all goes to plan, she'll move out west in mid-2025. Hip hip hooray!
  
• I dedicated a 5-day housesit as an "Art Retreat" and focused on creating some new postage stamp art. (Thank you, Pam, for having an amazing home that always activates my right brain.)
  
  
• I learned to bake pretzels. Yum!
  

• I enjoyed the companionship of fifteen kitties (Keeko, Hozomeen & Willow, Charlotte & Bear, Frida & Emme, Ebony & Ivy, Asher & Annie, Carmela & Jag, and Timber & Lilah) for thirty-nine weeks of housesitting. 
• I designed five new tours for Discovery Bicycle Tours: Ohio to Erie Trail, Crater Lake Getaway, Michelson Rail Trail, Silver Comet Trail Getaway, and C&O Canal & Civil War Getaway.
• I tutored ten new students in business communications.
• I read a boatload of books.

And...drumroll please...

• I bought a house! Yes, nomadic me finally put down roots and bought a home in Bellingham, in the beautiful state of Washington. (There's a fun story about how I found this home, which I'll share in a later post.)

In honor of my re-birth, I reread all the posts I've written every year to celebrate this special day. In reviewing my posts, I noticed a theme that began on my 7th re-birthday, back in 2018. It was then when I first mentioned wanting to settle down. "Recently," I wrote, "I've been feeling an urge to plant roots — to establish a place where I can build community and invest more deeply in relationships. A vague image of this 'place' is staring to emerge in my mind. But until this image gains clarity, I will continue to remain open-minded and heed the nudges of the universe. I've been learning: everything in its right time. When the time is right, I will embark on my next chapter."

Every year thereafter, my re-birthday posts made some mention of settling down. In my 8th re-birthday post, as the world was dealing with a pandemic, increasing catastrophes due to the climate crisis, and political divisiveness, I noted a growing sense of anxiety — a feeling that hadn't been typical for me. Without doubt, not having a stable homebase contributed to the stress. In my 9th re-birthday post, I recognized that my days of guiding were in the rearview mirror and that I was ready for something different...I just didn't know what. On my 10th re-birthday, after I had temporarily moved in with my partner in Bellingham, I wrote "I'm still figuring out how I fit into this new stay-in-one-place lifestyle." On my 11th re-birthday, I noted that although my desires to put down roots and my struggles to embrace a stay-in-one-place lifestyle continued to exist, I realized that as long as I lived with intention and spent my days as I wished, I was in a good "place," wherever that place might be.

I remember writing all those posts, feeling a continuous-yet-growing urge to settle down, but not knowing when and where and how I would do so. And yet now, looking back over that stretch of years, it's quite easy to see the progression I've made in clarifying the when and the where and the how. Everything in its right time.

I've considered many homes over the years, even making offers to purchase a number of them. When looking for a home, I didn't just ask myself, "What features do I want in a home?" I also asked, "How do I want to feel in a home?" I wanted a home that fit both me and my lifestyle, one that supported the things that bring me joy: walking and cycling, reading and writing, yoga and meditation, forest bathing, solitude, and growing in my capacity for love. True success, after all, is measured by the amount of time we spend feeling the way we want to feel. It's taken me awhile, for sure — everything in its right time. Twelve years after becoming a nomad and more than five years after feeling the first itch to settle down, I've succeeded in finding a home that makes me feel good. 

I closed on my new house a mere five days ago. I couldn't have asked for a more fitting gift to celebrate my 12th re-birthday. Hallefrigginlujah! I've made it happen, with great intention, and it feels so damn good.