Forty-Two
It is shocking for me to say that I am 42 years old today. Thinking back over the past year I feel I hit my goal of Embracing as there really was a lot going on. As seems to be the case the past couple of years, I have the intention of starting this little entry earlier and creating a draft in March. Then before you know it is the day before and I am trying to spend 30 min to capture what I remember that is tied to the outline I drafted then. As I am typing this right now I just got back from a “birthday run” around a nearby lake and what better way to start the day. Except that I have a meeting with my boss soon so I need to make this fast 😀.
Travel was a big component of our Embracing the year because as a family we made an RV trip around Lake Superior with some friends which was amazing. So many fun memories from that one for years to come. The best part is they have 3 kids that line up pretty close to our kid’s ages so that helps too. We got rained on, had a lot of campfires, and hiked and biked too.
Walker Solie 2022 RV Superior Road Trip
Next up on the travel this year was a vacation that for the most part was driven by my parent’s 50th Wedding anniversary. They told us during Christmas 2021, that they would rather spend some of the money we would maybe get in the future today together as a family. I mean how can you say no to that logic. Additionally, they made it super clear to my brother and I that they wanted to pay for our tickets, rental car, and the house that we would all be staying together at. It was super generous of them but also gave all of us an excuse to go hang out at the beach, play mini-golf, take nature hikes and just spend quality time with us away from all the busyness of our own lives. This is the 3rd trip that we have taken together like this over the past 10 years and as always it was a blast.
Captured this special moment between my parents after we did a little hike you can only access at low tide at Popham Beach
The whole Walker Crew all 12 of us with custom shirts!
The two vacation trips were part of the plan last year but what wasn’t was buying a seasonal spot at Keisler’s to hang out for the other parts of the summer. This was one of the best and dumbest decisions we have made. The dumbest because the only spot available was an RV only spot which is perfect because we have an RV but also the most expensive. To add to that this is also during a summer we knew we would not be there for about 4 weeks out of it with the other trips (at a minimum). However, seeing how much fun the kids had spending free weeks there was great as well. I think this will have a short shelf life as our kids are getting older so we figured we would strike while the iron is hot.
Tagging along right with that we sold our beloved RV. This was not in the plans but as we figured out that the kids wanted to spend as much time as possible this year at Keislers it didn’t make sense to have the most expensive spot and a very expensive RV that would just sit all year instead of being driven like an RV should. So we sold it and found someone onsite selling their travel trailer for a good price. It is bigger and has more rooms than an RV so I think that will fit nicely as we plan on spending more of our summer down there and I hope do work from there a couple days a week as well.
Adding to embracing things in a roundabout way I started a new job that is 100% remote and located in Portland, ME. The crazy thing is how this came about and really this is where embracing conversations and past connections really pays off. I got a phone call 2 weeks before I was traveling to Maine for vacation this year from one of my old bosses who said she had the perfect job for me for a CFO she worked with. Fast forward a week I had talked to my now boss for an interview and really liked everything I was hearing about the job. On a chance, I said let’s meet up and have coffee when I was in Portland, ME on vacation, and since he is an early morning person as well we had coffee steps from the hotel I had booked months ago that happened to be right by the office. It has been a great rollercoaster of a ride at this new company and I enjoy my time working from Shed office and the couple of trips I have already had to make to Portland.
My office I visit about once a month. It is in such a great location and is a very nice building.
One great thing about Portland is they have a trail that runs along the water right by the hotel I stay at and the office.
I signed up for another Marathon last year on kind of a whim. However, if you do the 20th doesn’t it make sense to do the 40th as well? The training for this cycle was not as great as the year before but my time was 1 min faster so I should be happy with that. Starting my new job one month before kind of threw a wrench into some of my longer runs and increased mileage. However, I finished it so I can check that box off and again proves that even if you feel bad out there for the last 6 miles or so, it sometimes is just mind over matter to put one foot in front of the other. Other than that I had continued to run and was going to give a go at running every day for a month in January until I got a bad run in with COVID after 21 days. Since then I have not felt 100% since but I keep slogging out those miles and so far I don’t have any plans to run a Marathon this year. I am sure I will figure something out as the year goes on.
How could I forget the one other thing that was new this year? We adopted another dog Darby Hatrick who we fostered so I guess it was a “Foster Fail” as they call it. We are still kind of early on in his training but we all think he is a really good dog and should fit in nicely.
What is on the docket for this year you might ask? Well, that is a good question and one I probably haven’t spent enough time thinking about. I do know that I have been stuck on Embracing for a few years now and it is time to let that go as I feel like this year has done it justice. I might change this up as I go but I think right now I am leaning towards Connections.