It was exactly 11 years ago that I was trying to decide if I was going to make the Lehigh Valley my new home.  I was trying desperately to hold onto my college life, grad school, or anything that resembled it.  I eventually, and painfully, ended up giving up on that dream in favor of building the best “adult” working life I could.  Honestly, I am shocked on how well it turned out given my lack of optimism from the time: “Maybe it is my overblown sense of nostalgia… wishing I could go back in time and live it all again… One thing I know for sure, everything in the past seems so familiar and so much easier.  Maybe I am afraid of doing something new.”

I have found that the most success and happiness I have had over the years is when I have given myself over to that transition.  When I stopped trying to force my past to continue, I was able to find something new and beautiful.  When I stopped trying to force college/grad school to continue, I found a dream job that allowed me to pretend to be a full time bike racer.  When I gave up on being a pretend full time bike racer, I found rock climbing, adventuring, and mountaineering.

And now here I am again, 11 years later, looking back into the past of an ended marriage and a life that we built.  And just as college was a great ride, so was the past 11 years.  But I won’t let my future be written by the last greatest thing.  The last 11 years were great, sure, but it all started because I was ready to give up the years before that.