This blog post has been sitting in various draft versions for the last two months. I just couldn’t find the right words to articulate the experience of this summer. I’m currently taking a course from my medium on soul plans and in today’s session, she quoted “Life is always beautiful, but it isn’t always pretty”. That is exactly what the summer has been like for me, it has spanned the full range from beautiful to heartbreaking. I guess I was waiting to write up an update that was “all good”, but I realize now that’s not true to what I set out to do with this blog. As I look back to the start of the summer, there was a part of me that thought I was through the hardest part of my grief. In reality, this second summer has been rougher than last summer. Last summer I equated progress as accomplishment, the busier I was, the better I was doing. The first part of this summer was filled with travel and family visits, July and August were two months with a lot of very quiet time to myself. It’s almost as though I hit a wall and my mind was telling me it was time to focus that energy inward.

I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to process grief, as long as you are working through it. For me, the level of activity of the first 18 months propelled me into a version of my life honoring Obie while defining a path on my own. As I move into the next phase, I can feel that my energy has shifted, working to heal the deeper damage caused by the events of the last two years. I can now stand at the edge of the craters in my soul from these life changing events, and objectively understand what I am meant to learn from them. I have discovered so much about myself this summer and feel better prepared to navigate life moving forward.

So here’s a quick recap of the major events of the summer. I’m going to follow this up with a second blog sharing the experiences I had over the last few weeks in Montana and Idaho on my last big road trip before heading south. But first, let’s get caught up with what brought us to this point!

The summer kicked off with our annual camping trip at the base of Mount Adams in south central WA. This area is one of my favorite places on earth and over the years, we have created so many beautiful memories there. The crew has grown and now includes my closest friends and their families. This June, we had three generations camping and the grandkids are now old enough that they are starting to form their own bonds between families. Seeing my grandkids playing with my girlfriend’s grandkids, digging in the dirt, chasing each other around, creating memories that will last a lifetime is what life is all about. The smiles speak for themselves, such a special place with loved ones.

At the end of June, we held the second annual Obie Open Golf Tournament with 26 teams. Obie’s niece, Heather, was able to visit from Iowa with her husband and parents. It was a great day honoring the big guy with stories, a few beers and so much love. I know that he had a big smile on his face that day!

I’ve written a lot about my kids and grandkids, my girlfriends and my AZ family but I haven’t captured the impact that my immediate family has had and continues to have on my life. In June, we all gathered in Suncadia, a resort in the Cascades with all of my siblings, their kids and my parents. We aren’t a family that connects on a daily (or even weekly) basis, but our connections run so deep that when we get time together, it is like picking up right where we left off. My youngest sister, Kerri and her family from Australia were able to join and it was so great to reconnect with them. Her kids have grown a lot since their last visit and it was fun seeing them have a full American experience. I would not be the person I am today with all of these loved ones in my life, they are the center of everything for me.

We also made the trip into Seattle to catch a Mariner’s game, amazing seats thanks to my son-in-law Janio. We made the big screen a few times and my brother in law, Phil, joined the shirtless bro section in the upper deck to make sure he had the full MLB experience. Sports has always been an integral part of our family, it was a great night at the ballpark. Go M’s! After Suncadia, my parents and Kerri and her family returned to my house for the 4th of July, filled with an arsenal of fireworks.

July and August were much quieter with the focus being primarily on triathlon training, watching the entire Game of Thrones series and weekly pool dates with Cole and Eva. I was making good progress in my workouts and seeing my fitness and strength improve. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that everything can change in a heartbeat. While running in the park, I tripped on a tree root while looking at my watch for my interval split. At first, I thought I only suffered a nasty case of road rash. But as the weeks progressed and my shoulder pain did not improve, I went to see my physical therapist. He believes that I have a torn labrum in my shoulder which will likely require surgery to repair. I’m waiting until I get to Arizona to get it assessed and fixed. It looks to be a very slow recovery so that will suck, but the shoulder pain is not something that I want to ignore either. I was able to salvage part of my planned gravel cycling race this last weekend in Sun Valley, Idaho. So now I am back to just being a runner as that’s the one thing that doesn’t make my shoulder worse.

Much like the canadian geese flying overhead, I am feeling the pull to go south. The next three weeks are full of events and times to connect with all of my people here in WA. It will be bittersweet to leave but there are some exciting things in store for Arizona this fall. I promise to write another blog before I leave describing my experiences of the last week and half, it was live changing!

Throughout all of this, I have thought a lot about the strong foundations that hold my feet firm as I weather these challenges. As always, they are my family and friends. While this summer was not what I expected, I know that is was the summer I was meant to have. I had important lessons to learn about myself and others. I hope that you have had the summer that was meant for you and challenge you to think about what you were meant to learn. Thanks for hanging in there with me as I navigate this complex but beautiful journey of life!

Foundations

Summer of “yes”