Beating the Storm and Moving On

A friend of mine recently started writing again and it inspired me to get back on here and bring this blog back to life! I have so many ideas written down for blogs but until I sit still and actually get my fingers on the keyboard they'll stay ideas forever! And what's the fun in that? None! So I decided to do a short (I'll do my best) and sweet year in review!

If you're friends with me outside the blog or a Facebook friend you know the last year of my life has been a constant adventure! I didn't plan it that way but after facing a significant change that led me into the unknown I decided to just go for it and see what happened! Which makes for a good story! I'm not going to skirt around it anymore because my last few blogs should have made it obvious and it's ok to talk about the reality of life. In May of 2024 I got divorced. No matter the circumstances surrounding that type of change in anyones life there's just no way around the feelings of failure, uncertainty and loneliness while facing the questionable future I was about to begin. Luna and I carefully tucked ourselves into bed, closed the blinds, I cried a lot, we both slept a lot, I called my lifelines a few times, let myself and my house go until I was ready to get up! This meant a lot of housecleaning, yard work, laundry and making up for many missed walks with Luna! Honestly she was struggling more than me because she lost her best friend Buck Buck in the divorce but eventually we had our new routine down and both stopped being big babies about getting out of bed in the morning. Ok, I know what you're thinking, what does all this have to do with a year of adventure? I'm getting to it! You all must have figured out how wordy I am by now!

About 3 weeks into my life as a divorced person I was talking to a friend of mine who had just landed in Mazatlan for a guys trip. It happened to be a really bad day for me that I won't go into because those details are insignificant to this story. I was happy my friend was starting his fun vacation and told him such but I couldn't help unloading about the day I had endured. I really just needed an ear to bend and could have picked someone else to do that to but he had called so lucky him he got to listen. Which he did. He didn't tell me everything was going to be ok, he didn't say sorry I was having a bad day, he didn't try to solve my problems, he just listened. And then he said "you should just fly down here and get away for a few days". Wouldn't that be nice? But, ya right. I knew he was just saying that to try to make me feel better. When we spoke later that day he said the other guys thought I should come down too. Holy shit, he's serious! It was 5:30pm and I can't make this up - I was on a flight to Mazatlan at 5:45am the next morning! Yes I'm talking 12 hours later, and on the sunny sandy beach that afternoon crashing a guys trip! It was the things that movies are made of. A girl who decides there's no more rules and just gets on the flight to leave the country. I didn't ask anyones permission, I didn't tell people I was going (except my daughter, of course!), I just did it. This is very uncharacteristic of me but it literally changed my life. Maybe even saved my life. Just do the things! All the things! Be spontaneous! We all had such a great time, I felt like I fit right in, friendships were formed, we ate fresh seafood, dined at amazing local restaurants, laughed a lot, I actually got in the pool and for 8 magical days I escaped reality. I also discovered my new reality - live in the moment! And the adventures kept presenting themselves like a welcome mat into my new life! Plus a new travel partner to share them with!

About 2 weeks after my spontaneous adventure leaving the country we went to Nashville for more firsts! Live music on every corner plus all the places in between each corner. Southern food galore! So much amazing history! New friends! And something everyone should experience at least once in your lifetime - NASCAR!! It was an insanely hot day in Nashville and we were waiting out the heat in the shade before taking our seats in the sun. I suddently heard cars running so I thought we were missing the race and my friend assured me that noise wasn't it, I would know when the race started. Wow! He wasn't kidding! There's no way to explain the way the noise of the racing cars fills your soul!

A month after our country music and car racing adventure we traveled around the state of Washington! :-) We started in the Tri Cities for family time, delicious food, wine tasting and fun in the sun! Then we walked and ate our way around Spokane for a week and hung out with my daughter and her boyfriend! The 4 of us had a blast, of course! It was nice for him to finally meet my favorite person in the world! There's another story to this part of the trip but I'll blog about that later! We went to a concert that I still have no idea who the band was because I'm not old enough! Lol! We ended the trip at my sister's house in Carnation for more delicious food, laughs and hand holding! IYKYK

A couple weeks after recovering from this road trip we headed to Shaw Island for one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever attended! We stayed in Friday Harbor and arrived to the wedding by boat, the weather was perfect, we met the most incredible people, I made more new friends and I literally didn't want the night to end. The rest of the weekend was just as magnificent. A tiny home, breathtaking sunrises, bars I don't remember and chinese food that probably wasn't as good as I thought it was at the time but scrumptious in the moment! This weekend definitely secured for me that my life was going to be different from now on in ways I had only ever dreamed of.

Then came a very spontaneous trip to Phoenix, AZ for a "concert" that was actually the Hondo Rodeo! If you've never been you're missing out! This was one of the best events I've ever been to! The energy in the arena during the rodeo was off the charts! And the food! So many choices, so little time! The concert was great too, you can't beat Zac Brown Band and Old Dominion! But the rodeo - so much fun!! We also were lucky enough to be in Phoenix at the same time as some of our friends who had extra NASCAR tickets so we did that too! Oh and we met Patches who rode us around town in a bike taxi more than once! I hope he's still riding people around when we go back!

This is about the time people started teasing me about if I remembered where I lived and constantly asking me where I was traveling to next. There was always an answer, we had lots more traveling in the books already but we took a little break to rest, reset and host Thanksgiving! Which was an adventure in itself! The long holiday weekend was filled with family, friends, laughter, turkey coming out of our pores, patio time in the sunshine with Luna and so much love. It's my family's favorite holiday and we never fail to make lifetime memories together! Next up was Christmas which brought a repeat road trip to Eastern Washington for more family time, lots of presents and too many dinners at the steakhouse in our hotel!

After recovering from the holidays we took a cruise to Cozumel and Progreso Mexico on the Margaritaville Islander! Such an amazing trip! This cruise ship is fairly small so, you guessed it, we made lots of new friends! We also met all the amazing staff and got to experience everything the ship had to offer! Plus a great adventure on the beach of Cozumel! Progreso didn't work out because of a storm so we headed back to Tampa Bay and someone got a little seasick. Me. I got seasick. But I rallied. Apparently the storm followed us to Tampa Bay, though, and it was a chilly 34 degrees when we disembarked the ship. We were not prepared for this but luckily our hotel had a room available so we could stay inside until it warmed up enough to walk around this amazing town! There was an annual festival going on and everyone was dressed up like pirates! The sidewalks were filled with people, the excitement was palpable and we struggled to explore as much as possible in the little time we had there!

Next up was Sayulita, Mexico with a group of (I think) 18 people for a week! This wasn't my first time there and it was incredible to see how much this welcoming cultural small town had changed without losing it's authentic charm. Our group quickly made friends with the staff at the closest restuarant to our resort and we rarely missed an opportunity to stop in on our way to or from town! We celebrated a birthday and a wedding anniversary, ate our way through town, shopped til we dropped, drank "Mexican water" with the locals, there was some fishing and we all gathered at the pool on the daily! As the group departed we snuck off to Puerto Vallarta for a few days to ourselves! We had big plans of experiencing this touristy town but the all inclusive resort was too tempting after a busy week and we took full advantage of it for the perfect winding down in paradise.

I was home for less than a week before heading to San Diego for a mother daughter (plus 1) trip! This is an annual tradition that has become so special to my daughter and I! We pick a new destination every year, we have so much fun exploring and making memories together! She is my very favorite travel partner, we play tourist so well together! This trip was one for the books! I got to share in a life changing moment for her that I will cherish forever! San Diego did not dissapoint! We survived on pizza & pasta, tried to do everything on our City Pass, discovered an amazing beach town, laughed without filters, posed for selfies, toasted to love a few times, told stories while munching on 7-11 snacks and watched airplanes land a little too close for comfort to our Airbnb! It went by too fast but I enjoyed every second of it and we definitely would go back to explore more of this awesome town!

Next up was my birthday month and we flew to Mooresville, NC to celebrate southern style with my sister and her husband! From the second we landed we were embraced by sunshine and...yep, new friends! This is such a welcoming community and the four of us had a great time. It felt more like an episode of Friends than a vacation. We laughed until we couldn't breathe, walked all over town, tried almost every restaurant, there might have been brookies, songs were sung like rockstars, a special birthday dinner went down per my spoiled brat request, fancy town cars drove us to secret bars, someone had to collect their Keno winnings from the state Lotto office and there was at least two Kraft mac & cheese nightcaps! I was sad to leave, my friends claimed squatter rights to my home and Luna, the guy sitting next to me on the flight came close to being removed from the plane and I had yet another Signature Fruit & Cheese plate! Does it get any better?

So now you can see why there was no time for me to sit still and blog. I hope you understand. I'm sorry this wasn't short and sweet as I originally promised. Somewhere in the middle of all of this I fell in love. More adventures are in the books. This next year is going to be filled with so many changes leading to lifetime memories that I can't wait to share with you as well as my ever growing list of blog ideas. If you got this far, thank you!

Here's some highlights of the adventures I've had the luxury of experiencing this past year!