#yearendreflections2018

[singintoothbrush]

2018 Year in Review

2018 has been a great one.  I think it's a good sign when, as the year is drawing to a close and reflection comes to the forefront, the overwhelming feeling is that I would repeat it in a heartbeat.  I had the opportunity to work in new places, meet new people, explore new parts of the country.  From January to May, you could find me in Plains, MT, a tiny town of 1000 people about an hour and a half northwest of Missoula and 2 hours south of Glacier National Park.   Some highlights included visits from amazing friends who made the trek north, a ski weekend with my cousin in Sandpoint, ID, a bike trip to Yellowstone with new friends, a week long visit from my mom and dad (most of the time singing Wild Montana Skies by John Denver), Whitefish Bike Retreat with my sister, and a great road trip home with my mom plus solo weekend trips to Helena, Whitefish, Kalispell, and Wallace, ID.  Truly gorgeous country and very fun to experience life in a small town for a few months. 

After a brief stop in Denver to see family and friends and a trip to Amsterdam where a good friend/colleague and I presented a poster at the first International Conference on Physical Therapy in Oncology, I headed off for the big city of Omaha, NE.  Summer in Omaha (holy humidity!) was interesting.  But, the College World Series was a great time, the concert scene did not disappoint (if you have the chance to see Lake Street Dive or Esme Patterson, I would highly recommend both), and weekly bike rides with Omaha Bicycle Co. and exploring state parks while training for a long run kept me sane (and very sweaty).  Plus, Omaha being on the way to many places via I-80 meant I had several visitors both passing through and again wonderful friends who made Omaha a destination. I also had wonderful coworkers and friends at Children’s Hospital in Omaha so overall it was a great experience. 

August brought with it several trips.  The original plan was to take the month off but I ended up squeezing in the travel around working.  A reprieve from the flatness but not the humidity came in the form of a Thomas family vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee where we all stayed in a huge house, hiked, biked, ate lots of food, played euchre and whiffle ball, and saw almost too many bears to count.  It was wonderful.  A week later I jet-setted up to Burlington, VT to meet college girlfriends for a long weekend and then headed west to Couer d'Alene, ID for a long weekend of boating, hiking, card playing, eating, and drinking with friends from PT school. Having multiple days to catch up with friends and family I don't get to see very often was the best.

The last month in Nebraska was not kind to me physically (or as my sister likes to say, my age caught up with me) and I ended up breaking my left shoulder while "mountain" biking and injuring my left ankle two weeks later on a "trail" run (both locations were surrounded by cornfields).  Despite both injuries (and against anything I would recommend to someone coming to me for PT), I managed to continue training for and completed my first Ultra marathon, a 50k run up to Mt. Hood Meadows in October (32 miles 2 days after I turned 32).  I was lucky enough to have two wonderful friends crazy enough to do the run with me (one was the instigator of the whole thing and the reason I finished the last three miles on two feet instead of crawling and the other is my birthday and adventure buddy who ran the 32 miles on his 32nd birthday).  Unfortunately we didn't get to experience the amazing views of Mt. Hood we had read about because it was rainy and foggy the whole day, but it was still an absolutely incredible experience.  Turns out Coca-Cola and a cheese quesadilla taste divine after 27 miles and adrenaline and endorphins are powerful drugs (my ankle and shoulder honestly did not hurt the entire run).  After the run, my sister and I spent a few days eating our way through Portland while also exploring the many incredible parks located within city limits.  We both agreed we could easily spend more time there for the food and drink alone. 

After my original plan of heading up to Boston for the fall didn't come to fruition I landed in Avon, CO for the ski season which has been the best unplanned landing place so far.  Actually, all of the places I ended up working this year were unplanned and all have been, as one friend put it, "happy mistakes."  Besides the lingering ankle injury slowing me down a little bit, the early season snow has been magical and I am loving winter in the mountains with a group of wonderful people who have welcomed me with open arms and helped put the cherry on top of an unforgettable year. 

When I left my job at Children's Hospital November 2017, I had no idea what the next year would bring.  I have learned that I love exploring new places (alone and with company), that balance in life is important, being physically active really does keep me mentally sane, meditation and being present is powerful medicine, connection and relationships with people, however long or short, transient or ongoing, give life meaning and purpose, and that  I should put my phone down, quit surfing the internet and read a book more often.

Cheers to a wonderful 2019!