Dear Mom,

This blog post is for you. A little story about our adventures in Arizona and how our travels together have helped me grow, not only as a human-being, but also closer to you. One year ago today, I moved across the country to the West Coast. I know you were devasted. Heck, I am pretty sure you were crushed when I moved 15 minutes away into my first home with Michael. I don’t blame you. Other than a few week-long trips out of the country and with family, we didn’t spend much time apart before I left the metaphorical nest. I didn’t even stay in my dorm room my first year away at college. I was home every weekend and sometimes every night of the week…and my bedroom was really only a place where I changed my clothes and sometimes slept.  (Maybe add something to clarify the last sentence – something like “and my bedroom was really only a place where I changed my clothes and sometimes slept because I didn’t have a need to escape family time” or something to that effect.) We have always been close, but in the past, it was more like we were dependent on each other, that our happiness as individuals relied solely on our happiness as a unit (word choice? Other options: family, mother-daughter duo, pair?). We always filled whatever void the other was feeling. And believe me, it was just as difficult for me to leave.  Throughout this life, I have worked really hard at discovering who I am, what I believe, and how I want to make an impact on this world.  It has been challenging, and I am still on this journey of self-discovery for sure. I’ve had eight years of higher education, six years of teaching, a career change, nine tattoos, a nose piercing, a taste of “rock star life,” travels to a handful of countries, seven years of marriage, a thirteen-year-old daughter, failed IVF treatments, years of healing, anxiety, two huge moves, and a myriad of life-changing events. Man, my whole life feels like a midlife crisis! But in this time and space, I feel stronger and more confident than I ever have before, and I feel it most when we go on our adventures because I am able to reflect on where I am in this life and I see the confidence within you grow. You have inspired me to always do better and be my best self, to push my limits and try things that scare the shit out of me.

Our travels have really just begun. Last year, it was Malibu, La Jolla, and San Diego, California. This year, we got to experience the Grand Canyon, drive through Flag Staff, explore Phoenix, Lake Pleasant, and Cave Creek; and we adventured out to Joshua Tree, California. We saw sites that brought tears to our eyes, met women who brought wisdom, vulnerability, and strength into our lives, practiced yoga as the sunset past the mountains, and hiked until our legs would no longer carry us past the tiny lizards and the cactus wrens. Seeing the world. Meeting these women, adventuring out into the world without a plan or a map…these experiences have been monumental for me. I feel a part of something bigger than myself, a powerful connection to other humans, and the strongest connection with you. What they say is true: you have always been, and will always be, my mom, but now you are truly my best friend.

I am so proud of you and the strength you possess to overcome the challenges you’ve faced the last few years. As I was moving across the country last year, you were also on a journey. A journey of loving yourself and finding a way to navigate through life while your body was constantly fighting you. A fight your body could have won if you let it, but you didn’t. You researched. You self-diagnosed. You tangled with doctors to hear you out. You found healing strategies and daily practices that help you heal, and you found a love for yourself that I have never witnessed before. A year ago, walking across the Mojave and Colorado Deserts for hours wouldn’t even have been an option, and now, not only did you trek those wilderness trails, you topped it off with a late night and yoga. You are inspirational. You are strong. You are beautiful. You are YOU… and that is just one of the million reasons I love you and our adventures together.

All Photos by Jes with MaeWood Photography