Phew

"I try because reformation is necessary and despair is criminal.”

Samuel Johnson 1775

Sometimes, you can pick your own pace. There is enough safe space on the slope that the route and the rate are within your control.

Other times, you have cliffs on both sides. The couloir is the only way down. The longer you hesitate, the greater the risk. Higher stakes and less control.

A look across the ridge during our February ski tour of Mount Timpanogos. Pick your line carefully.

The last two years have felt like couloir after couloir. Just when I thought I could slow down to take a breath and take stock of the situation, the terrain closed in. Family challenges, lawsuits, threatened lakes. Boom, boom, boom.

Things are slower on the way up, but route and rate still matter.

Maybe life is less like a "choose your own adventure" novel and more like when you're a kid on a road trip. You can choose whether or not to bother your brother, but the itinerary is pretty set. Learn, accept, make the most of what you are offered. Find your way.

Naomi wishes us well with a quad-olived-double-peace sign.

Though things have never been more out of my control, I have an abiding and surprising assurance that the route is good. Every day is a miracle, and each conversation is a gift. Thank you to all who have helped my family and me over the last many years. If life is a road trip, I'm grateful to share the bench with each of you.

"Worrying means you suffer twice".

Newt Scamander.