I don’t know about you, but 2021 was another strange and disorienting year for us. Better than 2020, that’s for sure. But still strange.
If nothing else, the last two years have taught me (over and over and over again) just how little control I have over life. But the same two years have also been an ongoing lesson in how my attitude affects my happiness and peace of mind.
One thing I know for certain: Gratitude, flexibility, perseverance, and humor will continue to be my best emotional friends as we roll into 2022.
Looking Back At 2021
Paging through my art journal, I found this that I wrote in January last year:
I woke this morning feeling a surge of hope, of gladness. I feel like there is light on the horizon, that the virus will abate, the vaccines will protect us, the world will calm down and right itself, people will be kind and generous to one another, we will come together—enough of us, at least—to work for the common good. For peace.
And then I read of the new virus variants, the uncertainties of the effectiveness of the vaccine, borders closing again, escalating tensions in our country and in the world at large.
It is not easy, to hold all of this. Narrowing my focus, I feel the grief at losing my father and my mother in less than a year. I am nearly overwhelmed by the decisions that face us. Keep my folks’ house in Florida? Return to our home in Oregon? Continue our travels? I do not like living in uncertainty.
But this is our reality right now. And so, I come back to this moment, the breeze rustling the palmettos, the sun glinting on the bay, the song of the Carolina wren. And in this moment, I feel at peace.
A lone Bufflehead
The Reality Of 2021
So, how did it all play out?
Some things are much the same as at the dawn of 2021. But there are some things we’ve managed to resolve in our personal realm.
In April, we got our vaccines. In October, we got our boosters. We still wear masks indoors. But all along through this craziness, we’ve been able to enjoy the outdoors and to spend time with friends. And for that, we are grateful.
Magnolia adopted us in February, and she has brought oodles of joy into our lives
In April, we completed probate on my parents’ estate. In June, we decided to make Florida our home. In August, we sold our home in Oregon. As of this week, we both have our Florida driver’s licenses, we have Florida license plates, we’re both registered to vote, we have Florida insurance, we have bank accounts locally. We’re Florida residents. We NEVER thought this would be our reality. Life unfolds in unexpected ways.
Although we’ve closed the chapter on our full-time traveling life, we traveled to North Carolina in August, and ended up staying for two-and-a-half months. And we have a four-month trip this summer to Michigan/Minnesota/Wisconsin on the horizon.
As of October, Mom and Dad are back home with us, residing on the screened porch and enjoying the sunsets. We’re planning a Valentine’s Day party for them in honor of their first date 72 years ago. We’ll send them off into the bay with a cocktail party, just the way they wanted.
Our backyard
The world is still coming apart at the seams, but we can keep our focus on our own backyard and our extended network of friends and family in this life journey. And we can do what we can on a daily basis to try in some small way to create peace and joy in this troubled world. I hold tight to the idea that little actions matter.
A Poem For Mindfulness
Mindful
Every day
I see or hear something that more or less
kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for – to look, to listen,
to lose myself inside this soft world – to instruct myself over and over
in joy,
and acclamation. Nor am I talking about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful, the very extravagant – but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations. Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself, how can you help
but grow wise with such teachings as these –
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean’s shine, the prayers that are made out of grass?
~Mary Oliver
The beautiful golden marsh in winter
About That Bucket List
Eric sent this to me a few months ago when I was lamenting the fact that in all likelihood, I will not get to do everything on my bucket list in this lifetime. (I have a very long bucket list.)
This made me laugh then, and it makes me laugh now.
Changing perspective
Wishing you more of whatever brings you joy in this life.
You take stunning photos! and write good tales to go with :) Thank you for bringing beauty and smiles into our lives Laurel and Eric!
Thank you, Terri. I’m so glad you enjoy our photos and our storytelling and that you’re continuing to travel along with us. I’m looking forward to an update from you when you get a chance. :-)
Great post, Laurel. The cartoon at the end made me laugh. Your photos are stunning. Thanks for sharing the ride with us and more importantly, thanks for your hospitality. If being kind is on your bucket list, you can check it off now.
Aww, thank you, Susie! We enjoyed so much your brief visit and would love to have you come back anytime! Wishing you all the best adventures this year.
Love your header photo and the one labeled “our backyard.” We’ve actually been to Apalachicola–traveled there in our motorhome–it’s a beautiful place! Your paragraph about focusing on our own backyard and the poem about finding joy in every day things was just what I needed on this January 2. And that last about the bucket list almost made me spit my coffee. As always I so enjoy your writing. Happy New Year Laurel and Eric.
Janna, I hope you guys will find your way back here sometime! Aren’t we lucky to have such beautiful backyards? It’s easy to find peace when we have expansive views—us with the bay, you with your desert in winter and your mountains in summer. I’m glad the ‘bucket list’ made you laugh, LOL. Happy New Year to you and Michael and Emmi!
Thank you for the uplifting thoughts, reflective poetry, and a good laugh. May each of them continue to fill 2022 along with good health for all.🙏
Sheila, thank you for your friendship and for continuing along with us in our travels. We wish you and Bruce and sweet Vivienne a year of peace, good health, and many joyful moments.
You are so good at making lemonade from lemons and putting it all down in words! I, selfishly, do hope you continue to blog for many years! Mary Oliver is also so good at giving us perspective in beautiful words.
Wishing you and Eric and Magnolia a healthy and peaceful 2022!
Lisa, thank you for your kind and supportive comment. It makes me happy to blog when I know there are friends who continue to enjoy our posts…whether travel, or at home, or just musings on this wild life journey. Wishing you and Hans and your beautiful Rosie kitty all the best in this new year!
Thank you for this–all of it, but especially the Mary Oliver! All good things in 2022…
Gretchen, wishing you all good things in 2022, as well! Isn’t Mary Oliver just the best? I think I found my poem for the year.
“the untrimmable light of the world” such a phrase! At first, I thought I knew what it meant, then I plugged it into my search engine. My first reading was that Oliver meant that the light of the world could not be trimmed or contained — did she? Or was she using it with the definition of “untidy, scruffy, unkempt?” All of that, I concluded. Life’s light is boundless, scruffy, unable to be held or contained, astounding. We’re small, small cogs in the Big Machine, and it is marvelous.
Happy New Year, dear friends!
Hi Laurel…
Life is a series of twists and turns but full of opportunities. I love how you have seized all those opportunities and found all the good things in the “untrimmable light of the world”.
As like you and Eric, our chapters continue to evolve and change and now that I have learned to replace the B in bucket with an F, all is well in the world! LOL!!!
Wishing you two the best in 2022. And still hoping g to get by your place for a visit!
Hugs,
Brenda
Brenda, life is just one heck of a rollercoaster ride, isn’t it? I know you two are in the midst of some exciting life changes…can’t wait to see how it all unfolds for you! I truly hope you’ll be able to come for a visit while you’re in Florida. We can compare notes on our ‘bucket’ lists and those that have been relegated to the “F” version, LOL!! Hugs and Happy New Year!
Joodie, probably no surprise (sister wife, LOL), but that’s the phrase that caught me, too. “The untrimmable light of the world” is just so gorgeous. I like your conclusion as to the meaning. Your last two sentences are brilliant. Happy New Year, dear friends, with many joyous moments appreciating the untrimmable light of the world!
Laurel, your journal entry last year is proof that even in the midst of chaos and uncertainty there can be peace. If all of us tended our proverbial ‘back yard’ the way you guys do there would be more of that in this crazy world. Many Blessings for 2022.
Suzanne, I appreciate so much your kind and supportive comment. The last two years have been challenging, with a cascade of personal upheavals in the midst of the enormous global upheaval that changed all of our lives. It really does help me to stop and look around, to breathe and be in this moment. Wishing you and Malcolm all the best in this new year!
P.S. I loved the Bucket List meme too much not to save it. It is now Pinned to my Favorite bloggs on Pinterest. Thanks for the chuckle.
Haha!! I’m glad you appreciated the meme! I’ve looked at it a hundred times and it still makes me laugh. :-)
Thank you for that! (Borrowing the cartoon… )
LOL!!! You’re welcome! Happy New Year, Riley & Karen!
What a beautiful read for the beginning of the year. You have such a way with words, Laurel, knowing just how to drill down through the junk to write about what is at the center of it all. Uplifting. Even in the midst of all your hard stuff, and some sadness, some difficult times, you still bring a sense of joy and calm. Then, of course, is the humor. Now, this is quite strange. I dreamed of you last night, a vague dream without a lot of detail, but I was somewhere with you, at an art show or a workshop or something or the other, and was thinking about how very “cool” you were, in a good way. Who knows. Dreams can be very strange and unexpected, especially when I wake up to an email with your post. So thanks for being an uplifting part of my life and thanks for that great cartoon!
Sue, this is such a wonderful, supportive, loving comment! How fun that I was in your dream and then I showed up in your inbox. We’re on the same wavelength. I know you share the life philosophy of looking for what is best in life and making the effort to celebrate each and every day. Wishing you and Mo and sweet Mattie all the best in a new year of life adventures!
As always, great writing and fabulous, professional photos! Even though you are not full-time now, your travel adventures will be just as exciting and interesting to follow! Thank you for sharing, looking forward to hearing about your 2022 travels! Keep the stories coming!
Thank you so much, Mike. I’m very happy to know that even though we won’t be full time traveling that you are still interested in following along with our travels. Although I started this blog back in 2012 to keep a journal of our travel adventures, it has evolved over the years to be about whatever life has presented—so now it’s a ‘life journey’ blog. :-) I appreciate your support and your kind words. May this be a wonderful year for you, in every way!
what a great post Laurel. You’ve done so many things in this last year. I wish I had a similar list of accomplishments to look back on as well as that view to look out on. Wishing you a wonderful 2022 and with your attitude – can I get some of that please – no doubt it will be. Love to you both. Hope I get to meet Magnolia.
Sherry, you’ve done a lot this last year, too—and you’ve had more than your share of challenges. I hope that 2022 will turn out to be a year of ease and wonderful adventures for you. And you will definitely meet Ms. Magnolia! She’s waiting for you. :-)
I can’t decide which I like more – the Mary Oliver poem or the cartoon. Oh, who am I kidding? You know that cartoon is exactly what speaks to me. Ha! But Mary had some good points, and they are worth remembering. There is a lot to be thankful for and great value in focusing on our realistic spheres of influence. Letting uncertainty and fear and stress overwhelm us serves no purpose. We’ve all got one life and need to do our best to enjoy it.
As always, your writing is beautiful and your message spot on. Happy New Year! Can’t wait to see you!
Hahaha!!! I absolutely know that cartoon speaks to your soul, Laura! We wouldn’t be good friends if it didn’t. And I’m glad you also appreciate the wisdom of Mary Oliver. So many different ways of approaching this life, and I need both the spiritual and the hilarious.
You are so right…we’ve all got this one great gift of life, and it’s up to us to make the most of it and to focus on what we can (kind of) control. Can’t wait to see you and Kevin and Thor and catch up after two long years. Good times ahead!
Diana and I try to avoid bucket lists, so that is perfect! I’m smiling about your mom and dad, as we had friends whose grandpa was in an urn on a table next to their television. I was over at their place watching the Indy 500 one year and we moved Sam over next to us so he could watch the race. :) I see you will be in Michigan this summer; we would love to meet up with you if you are going to be near Traverse City or Sleeping Bear Dunes.
Jim, that’s a wonderful story!! I know my mom and dad are delighted to be back here in the place that they loved so much. And I know that they would enjoy the cocktail party that we’re planning for them.
We would love to see you and Diana while we’re in Michigan this summer. We’re planning to be at Sleeping Bear Dunes/Traverse City area for a couple of weeks. I’ll let you know our plans as soon as we nail down those reservations!
I doubt you will ever stop being surprised that you ended up as Florida residents…. but we are extremely glad you are here! Not only do we get to enjoy your company, but we also get to visit the lovely property that you showcase so well in your photos. I don’t think life ever gives us periods of total calm — there’s always a storm brewing somehow or somewhere — but I know it’s been a particularly unsettling couple of years for you guys. We are so happy that you’ve made it through and kept your senses of humor intact! There is great promise in 2022!
Shannon, at some point I need to stop being surprised that we’ve ended up as Floridians. But we are seriously surprised, haha!! Honestly, spending time with you and Ken added weight to our decision to stay here, because without like-minded friends, we just wouldn’t want to be here. We’re grateful for the many ways you helped us through the challenges of the last couple of years. Here’s to a great 2022 for all of us!
In tears laughing so hard! Yes, it does help to change the B to an F … it might be a good strategy for a number of lists … perhaps all of them! Oh, to be with you sitting on the dock watching the sunset over the bay!
We do indeed live in interesting times! So few of the changes required are in our control … you two have done remarkably well at making the best of them and with seemingly such grace and grit tho I know well the ” nail one foot to the floor and dance” gyrations that happen behind closed blog doors and are part of the evolution toward that said “Grace”!
We applaud your continued adventures, friend making, food discovering, hike and kayak partaking, generally mindfully inspiring us to the best everydays! Here’s to our ship of friends .. Sailing smooth in 2022!
Oh my dear Diana, I just knew you would appreciate the idea for transforming bucket lists, LOL!! You are so right about the dance of evolving toward grace and acceptance. It helps to have good friends accompanying us in this wild, challenging, beautiful journey of life.
We wish you guys were here with us enjoying the sunshine and the sunsets, too. We’re looking forward to when you join us for some adventures, Florida style. We miss you, always. Here’s to a peaceful, joyful, healthy, sane 2022!
Thank you for the good thoughts. There is wisdom in that cartoon! We went for a short hike to Sauvie Island on Christmas Day with our two sons, just to stimulate the appetite before dinner, and saw 6 Trumpeter Swans. Happy New Year! – Tom & Georgina
Happy New Year, Tom & Georgina! You two know how to fully appreciate life—seeing those Trumpeter Swans is a beautiful image to carry into 2022. Here’s hoping that this year brings both of you an abundance of creative inspiration and new adventures to nourish your spirits. We hope a trip to Florida is in your plans at some point! :-)
Laurel,
Beautifully written post. Your comment about things you never expected to happen reminds me of one of my favorite movie lines. In the movie “City Slickers” a character is moaning about why he can’t have a “normal life” and another guy replies that there “is no such thing as a normal life. There’s just life”. You and Eric are making the most of yours and adapting to change exceptionally well. We wish you a blessed 2022.
P.S. I would love to see a post of the first 50 items on your *ucket list.
Hahaha!!! My ‘ucket’ list! It’s very long and includes travel (both in the U.S. and overseas), improving my sketching and painting skills…oh, there is so much on my list! This would be great conversation for around the fire pit and would require at least a few day visit, Joe. I’d like to hear what’s on your list! :-)
Love your line from City Slickers. So true that there is no such thing as a ‘normal life.’ We wish you and Helen a year of all good things, including many more wonderful travel adventures!
Always so good to read a posting from Laurel and view your stunning images. Congratulations on becoming a Floridian…I think🙂
Happy new year to you, Eric and sweet Magnolia.Can’t wait to see your travel photos this summer.
Wishing you joy,comfort and peace.
With metta
K~
Thank you for your lovely wishes, Kathryn. I’d love to hear how your plans are unfolding for your potential move. I’m still settling into our new reality, and as you know, there are both wonderful and challenging aspects to Florida. I suspect that’s true of everywhere, especially now with intense climate change and political upheaval everywhere. We need to create an oasis of peace wherever we are, don’t we?
I hope this year brings you this direction so that we can meet up in person. Be well, and keep on capturing the beauty of life in your photos!
May 2022 bring unexpected pleasures as you continue to settle into your new home. It’s such a beautiful place and how wonderful that it has such excellent caretakers! Tell Eric he scored big time with the cartoon 😂.
I’m glad you appreciated the cartoon, Janie. :-)) I appreciate your good wishes—I like that, anticipating unexpected pleasures! I hope that includes a visit from you two. Happy New Year!
Wishing you and Eric a wonderful 2022. Who would have ever thought at this time last year we would still be wearing masks and hearing daily positive/death rates for the virus a year later. All I can do is adjust my attitude and create joy in what I have and what I can do. I am so tired of wishing everyone would get on board and get vaccinated. If they don’t care about themselves, why should I! I truly couldn’t ask for a better life despite the virus. Stay strong. We WILL get through this. Eric does understand! Love it!
Pam, who would ever have thought that we would have a pandemic, much less still be dealing with it two years later? Like you said, we can adjust our attitude (at least we can control that, right?) and focus on what brings us joy. I’m so glad that you and John are in a place that you love. You have your own personal resort in your backyard. :-) Wishing you both all the best of everything in 2022, including some great travel adventures!
Happy New Year, Laurel! Yes, I agree that while 2021 was better than 2022 (by far!), it was still such an odd year. We traveled some, but not to all the locations we had hoped. I was glad that we were able to have a gathering of family at Thanksgiving since Omicron managed to disrupt plans for so many. (My daughter and son-in-law, as well as my brother and sister-in-law, all got Covid, but thankfully they were not visiting us!) I’m trying to keep my husband and mother safe, even though “they” say it’s not as bad as Delta. Rod and Mom are “of an age,” though, and I would hate for them to get sick, even with the mild symptoms. Yes, gratitude, flexibility (!!), perseverance and humor are key to our mental health and survival in the coming months. We are hoping to go to Canada, the Yukon and a small part of Alaska this summer, but time will tell. I’m prepared for the worst and hoping for the best… I did get a new camera (my daughter gifted me a Canon EOS RP) and I bought a telephoto lens, so I’m hoping to get some nice photos of wildlife, whether in Canada or here in my little whale cove. Speaking of photography, I love your photo of the Bufflehead and your sweet Magnolia… Your summer trip sounds wonderful! I look forward to hearing all about your adventures and drooling over your beautiful photos. And, thank you, for sharing Mary Oliver’s lovely poem. I had thought I’d read most of her poetry, but that one is not familiar. I love it. And I love the Bucket List card. Lol!! I will have to share it on my blog one of these days. Tell Eric thanks for laughs! Be well and Happy New Year to you and Eric. xo
Les, it seems as though you had a good year, even with the ongoing pandemic. I hope you’re going to be able to take your trip to Canada and the Yukon this summer. That’s a trip that’s on my bucket list, (I’m not willing to downgrade it to the “F” list, LOL) so I’ll be happy to follow along on your adventure.
I feel the same as you do—we don’t want to get any version of Covid, so we’re still being very careful. Stay healthy and keep on enjoying life in your beautiful Oregon coastal locale! I’m glad you liked the Mary Oliver poem—I think that poem will be my mantra this year. Along with the bucket list card, haha! Hugs and Happy New Year!
Once again Laurel I want to tell you how very grateful I am for your blog and for Eric’s wonderful photography. I wish you peace and many blessings in the coming year.
Oh, Nancy, thank you so much for your continuing loving support. I hope that you’re staying cozy in the Ashland snowy winter and have some travel adventures coming up this year! Wishing you all the best of everything this year.
That poem is amazing! Your post is beautiful, too; thank you for sharing those candid thoughts and feelings.
I have been feeling an urge to kick over my bucket (list), too. I heard about a new book on exactly that topic (I haven’t read it yet, but plan to): “Unfollow Your Passion” by Terri Trespicio. Julia Cameron (“It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again”) is also helping me triage my Life-List. I think that I can keep “spot a Great Grey Owl” on there, but I’ll probably cross out “be an extra on a Star Trek movie.” 😄
You guys have done some wonderful posts on your travels through the northern Midwest. Are you willing to share a sneak preview of your itinerary? Thank you, Laurel!
-Heather
Hi Heather! I got a good laugh out of you ‘triaging’ your life list. That is the perfect term to use! And yes, I definitely think you should keep ‘spot a Great Grey Owl’ on your list. One of my finest hiking memories is spotting a Great Grey and two owlets on a trail near Ashland. I will never forget that moment! And hey, if someone offers you the opportunity to be an extra on a Star Trek movie, you can still jump on it, even if you don’t leave it on your bucket list. :-)
I’m putting together the enormous jigsaw puzzle of our summer trip and still have many reservations to make (when the reservation windows open). The plan right now includes Alabama (Montgomery, Huntsville), Memphis/St. Louis/Wisconsin (Door County, Madison, Baraboo, Apostle Islands), Minnesota (Minneapolis, Duluth and up the scenic coastline to Grand Marais), and a whole bunch of stops in Michigan (Porcupine Mountains, Copper Harbor, Marquette, Pictured Rocks, Tahquamenon, Sault Ste. Marie, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Traverse City, Grand Rapids). And then figuring out how to get home. Wish me luck with the reservations!
Happy 2022!
Laurel
Back again and glad I did because I missed your beautiful MO quote. Thank you. Need to keep slowing down and work on mindfulness.
Liked the comedy meme from Eric.
Thank you for your positive reply.
K~
Kathryn, isn’t Mary Oliver the best? I think that will be my poem for the year, reading it every morning and committing it to memory. I always need reminders to stay mindful. Wishing you a year of peace and many soul-nourishing moments of joy.
I love this post, I love your positive and humorous spin on this crazy life. I love the cocktail party send off for your parents! Our son has instructions that involve “us”, a particular Florida beach and a wonderful dinner with good wine.
Thanks for keeping up with your blog. We all want to stay connected, we know you and love you and want to stay in your lives and keep you in ours.
bucket list…..hahahahahaaaa!
Sue, isn’t that bucket list cartoon just perfect? Seriously, it’s time to pare things down and to just keep my focus on the beauty and joy of this crazy but wondrous life. I love that you have such a perfect celebration planned when you two are done traveling this earthly plane. Meanwhile, we wish you many, many years of good health and thousands of delightful second cups and happy hours both at home and in your traveling adventures.
I’m glad you keep up with your blog, too. We love you guys and miss seeing you in person!
Yes to all of this, and many thanks for taking the time to share. I would never have guessed you two would be Floridians for several reasons, and yet here you are, and it seems like you’ve landed in a great place (internally as well as externally). We plan, God laughs.
One of the things I most enjoy about reading blogs of people I love is the validation of knowing we’re not alone in our journey through this maze of experiences. What a crazy time we’re living in – but we’re all living in it!
You and Eric must meet up with Jim and Diana while in Michigan – two more of our favorite peeps :-)
Here’s to finding all the best in 2022, and being prepared to redefine what that means when we look back.
Jodee, I believe you understand my surprise at our becoming Floridians. :-) All things considered, it feels as though we made the right choice, at least for now. It has been quite the journey for all of us over the last couple of years. I’m glad, as you said, to know that we’re in good company with good friends, even though we may be many miles apart.
We would love to connect with you and Bill in Michigan! And we’re hoping to meet up with Jim and Diana while we’re there. Here’s to a year of ‘normal’ adventures, LOL.
“we got our boosters. We still wear masks indoors. But all along through this craziness, we’ve been able to enjoy the outdoors and to spend time with friends. And for that, we are grateful.” Words that I could have written in my journal as it is exactly what we are doing. Cannot focus on the negative in this environment. It was wonderful to spend extended time with family last year … and to scratch off the AK RV trip off our ever-growing bucket list. Already making travel plans (be they with the MH or otherwise) for 2022. We will continue to live our lives … taking the necessary safety precautions. May 2022 be an improvement over 2021 in every possible way.
Erin, I’m still planning to go back and enjoy all of your entries from your travels to Turkey that I missed. I’m so glad you and Mui were able to travel to see family this past year (and, of course, your wonderful RV trip in Alaska). You certainly made the most of another challenging year. I’m looking forward to hearing what your plans are for 2022! Wishing you two a healthy, happy year of adventures!
Oh boy as always I am late to the party. As you can see, my focus has been diverted to several other things now.
Glad you had a good start of the new year and leaving 2021 behind. You are so good with words that I should once in while peek at your postings, shame on me :(
Im sure your parents will be happy to be back home and have a great send off! We did the same thing with Steve’s parents, we flew them to Anza Borego where they always spend their winter.
Despite the craziness in our world you both managed to continue the quest of adventure and savoring it safely. And I wish you more travels, and make sure AZ is on the route.
We too had a busy year of travel and visiting family and friends. We were careful but sometimes you will never know the virus has its way in to any body. We hosted the family Christmas fathering taking all precautions, everyone came boosted but somehow when they left Omicron was left behind and I got it. Thankfully I am boosted so I only had mild symptoms and stayed home. Steve did not get tested but by association we say he got it too but he was only mildly fatigue for a couple of days. Having been touched by Covid, we no longer have that anxiety nor fear of what ifs of the unknown. But we continue to wear face covering when shopping.
Cheers to the new 2022!
Mona Liza, I am always happy to hear from you, no matter when! I’m so sorry to hear that you got sick. :-( I’m glad you only had mild symptoms and are all better now.
You two did have a wonderful year, and I hope that this year will bring you many more grand adventures. I hope you’ll be writing about them so that we can follow along. Big hugs to you both! And yes, Arizona is in our plans…maybe for spring 2023?