I can say with certainty that 2025 was the best year of my life. For the past 4 years, all the intense and difficult healing work has brought me to a state of happiness and contentment that I’ve never attained until now. 2025 was a celebration of life for me. It was full of travel, lots quality time with my mom and the rest of the family, connections with old and new friends, coaching and working out at the best gym ever, and singing/conducting in one of the best outlets for my musical expression, VOICES of Kentuckiana.

January of 2025 started out with a bang – well, more like a bomb, with a snowstorm and frigid temps that turned 8 inches of snow into a block of ice.

Thank goodness I was able to escape in early February for 3 weeks housesitting in San Diego while my little sister traveled to New Zealand for her own adventure! And how nice to be there and NOT have Covid! I made up for the previous September trip and packed in as much adventure as I could into those 3 weeks, basking in the sun at Oceanside Harbor, roadtrips and hikes in Julian and Idyllwild, a peaceful and meditative afternoon in Encinitas at the beautiful Meditation Gardens, finally a visit to the famous Zoo, and SO many kitty rumples and snuggles.

Just a few weeks after returning from San Diego, I headed off on a road trip to Charleston, SC to celebrate my niece’s wedding. It couldn’t have been a more perfect ceremony (well, if those danged noseums hadn’t descended upon us! ) and also the first time all of us siblings were together in a few years. I am overjoyed that Little Bits has found such a wonderful partner, and we all welcome Austin into the fold.

April brings Spring and that brings about my favorite Spring/Summer activity – biking! And this year, it was finally time for a new bike. And so began the first of many early morning bikerides at the Parklands, enjoying the very early dawn hours all to myself, on the lookout for deer and those beautiful blue indigo bunting birds who avoid my camera at all times!

Memorial Day weekend was spent, as I usually do, in Naperville at my mom’s. It was pretty chill, we got pizza from Al’s, we watched the Cubs, I helped her with cookies and errands around the house. Spotted an incredibly beautiful pair of Scarlet Tangers at the Forest Preserve! Finally, a really nice visit for a yummy meal with Joe and Kathleen.

Just a few short weeks later, I headed back to Naperville to celebrate my mom’s 92nd birthday! Despite the blazing fires of hell outside, we all kept our cool as we celebrated with my brother, sister, sis-in-law, cousins and aunt. My mom made out like a bandit with all the booze and dark chocolate she could desire.

The highlight of 2025 was my return (FINALLY!) to Montana! Back in January, Renee texted me and said she was thinking of doing a race on Flathead Lake in July and wondered if I’d like to go along. It took me literally ZERO seconds before I texted her back YES and within an hour we’d made flight and AirBNB reservations for the week. My excitement built throughout the entire year, and in early July, the time finally came. Renee and I each flew into Spokane, rented a car, and drove the beautiful 3 hours to Ronan, MT, which is a lovely little town midway between Missoula and Flathead Lake. We checked into the most precious AirBNB cabin on a farm owned by a wonderful woman named Stacy. When I say the setting was stunning, I am not kidding. This area of Montana is surrounded by mountains, and every direction you look is more beautiful that the one before. The cabin was small but perfect for us, and we had the company of Stacy’s dogs, kids, and TAME DEER that Stacy’s husband would feed right out of his hands. We settled in to the cabin and throughout the next week we had the most wonderful adventures – we drove through the spectacular National Bison Range, visited Missoula for the day and hiked to the top of Mt. Sentinel, spent a day on Flathead Lake while Renee paddled her race, then an AMAZING afternoon hiking at Glacier National Park, running from bad-tempered Bighorn sheep and spotting several grizzlies (from a safe distance), and simply gorgeous views of valleys and mountains. We finished off our week hiking my favorite trail in Montana, Kootenai Creek Trail. It’s hard for me to express how Montana touches my soul, it always just feels to me that when I’m there, my heart is at home. I am so grateful to Renee for taking me back there, not only for that reason, but to spend really lovely quality time with my little sister. So many beautiful pictures from the week to post.

My summer of travel was not yet over. Two weeks after my return from Montana, I took a road trip to Greensboro to visit Ab, my best-friend-of-all-time. No matter the passage of time, it is ALWAYS as easy and comfortable as if we’ve just seen each other yesterday. We had a long weekend of talks, cooking with her lovely daughters, hikes, coffee, birdwatching, and of course, horn duets! I’m eternally grateful for this dear friend who is unconditionally loving and supportive of me in every single way.

In early August, I returned to the same little cabin in Beattyville, KY (near Red River Gorge) that I’d gone to 3 years ago. Back then, I was extremely unhappy and struggling with the circumstances surrounding my life at the time. During that visit asked the Universe to help me address three things – stop living in fear, stop worrying so much, and stop hating myself – in the hopes that I could live the rest of my life in peace. I’m happy to say that I think I’ve done a pretty good job of reducing those things. That weekend this past August was an acknowledgement of the hard work and healing I’ve done, and giving thanks to the Universe for bringing me where I am today. I feel a sense of happiness and contentment for the first time in my life, and I’m so very grateful.

Throughout the year, a daily constant has been my gym, the CAV in St. Matthews. Coaching and working out there has not only been a huge part of my physical fitness, but also my emotional well-being. I have found SO many close friends, connections, and emotional support the past few years, I can’t imagine where I’d be without it. We work out, we laugh, we cry, we sing, we dance, we go out for coffee, bagels, barbeque, movies…how lucky am I to be part of this community?

Headed back up to my Mom’s for Labor Day, and we had a nice quiet weekend all to ourselves. We got out and about to the Farmer’s Market, Marianos, and the Riverwalk. Watched the Cubs win and lose, cheered on Michigan’s opening game, had our favorite pizza, and even tried a new flavored whiskey. I hugged her extra tight when I left.

Throughout the year, I went on many hikes locally, mostly at Jefferson Memorial Forest and Bernheim. Always love being out in nature, at all times of the year. Just a few of my favorite shots.

In late October, I spent a long weekend with some dear friends in Gatlinburg, for the very first time! So many fun things to do, my favorite of which was ziplining for the first time and getting on a horse for the first time since I was 12. And this time I didn’t fall off!

At the end of November, I traveled to San Diego the week before and the week of Thanksgiving to housesit for Renée as she ventured to the Cook Islands for yet another paddle race! As always, I took full advantage of my time there. First, I returned to Joshua Tree to hike a trail that had been completely fogged in a couple of years ago. This time, the weather was absolutely perfect and I had unbelievable views at the top of the Panorama Loop. Of course, I can’t go to San Diego without a trip to the Meditation Gardens in Encinitas. It was more beautiful this visit than ever – a crystal clear blue sky and very windy, which produces beautiful waves. Tons of surfers out enjoying those for sure. THe day before Thanksgiving, I strolled along the beach at Oceanside Harbor in shorts, a tank top and flip flops, enjoying the warm sunshine, seagulls and the salty air. The warm sun on my face and my feet in the Pacific – doesn’t get much better than that! On Thanksgiving Day, I treated myself to a taste of home by making my mom’s spaghetti sauce, and enjoyed that with a lovely bottle of red that Renée left for me.  The kitties, as always, kept me good company. How I love getting my kitty fix out there.

2025 was just a banner year for VOICES. At the end of April, our Spring Concert was a joyous celebration of love. During the summer months, we started working in earnest on Considering Matthew Sheperd, a collaboration with Pandora Productions and Highland Baptist Church. The work, composed by Craig Hella Johnson, was so beautiful but very challenging! It was the highlight of my year to work with the upper voices in preparation for the concert in mid-October. The concerts were definitely one of the highlights of my musical experiences. There were very few dry eyes in the audience AND in the chorus as well during the performances. Finally, our Christmas concert on only 6 rehearsals was a great success. I’m very honored to be part of the artistic staff, and again, don’t know where I’d be without the love and support of all my friends in VOICES.

2025 ended with a very wonderful but bittersweet weeklong trip home for Christmas. My mom was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia back in October. She’s been on meds, but the seizures still continue and kind of take the wind out of her sails. That plus her advancing age has led us all to the decision to move her to a senior apartment very close to Joe and Kath, within the next couple of months. So, this would be the last Christmas at my mom’s. I arrived on Saturday, spent a few days with her, then Renee flew in on the 23rd, and we began Xmas dinner preparation in earnest. Christmas Day was a lovely one with Joe and Kathleen, and then the day after Christmas, Kevin, Karen, Elizabeth and Austin arrived and we had an absolutely wonderful day celebrating this Christmas and many Christmases of the past.

I was thinking before I started this blog, how I’ve felt kind of like … I’m so happy and feel so healed after the last several years. And then I realized over Christmas that maybe it’s just that 2025 was so comfortable, with very little big life changes. Which is perfectly fine, and I feel very grateful to have had such peace and contentment this year. But, I do realize that life is a roller coaster,there  are ups and downs, and life is constantly changing. And this Christmas brought the realization that there will be many changes in store for me and my family over the next few months. My mom will be moving, we’ll be selling her house and saying goodbye to that, as well as saying goodbye to the town in which I grew up. I drove home from my mom’s on the verge of tears, thinking about all that we are about to go through. For us, and for my mom too. But, I’ll try to approach it all with an open heart, knowing that change is inevitable, and in the long run, it helps our resilience.

With love in my heart, I’m wishing you all my very best for a fabulous 2026!