Lock, Stock, and One Smokin’ Good Ride
It’s a time of reflection here at my house, end of year stuff. Yeah, time to take stock. What worked well this year? What did I appreciate? For what am I grateful? What do I want more of in my life? These are the questions…
But first, taking stock for a few things that seem to make all the other things possible, including this ride.
Thought Journaling: I write about it here occasionally, my life changed the moment I began writing in a journal every single day, in fact I am closing in on three years total, two years of daily entries, the exceptions number less than 15 days, and those would include mountain hunting trips, backpacking trips, hard travel days, Covid etc. It has been a worthwhile commitment.
Great Coffee: I write every morning over a cup of coffee, first thing every morning, 6 a.m. typically, brewed with my AeroPress, a gem of a find, originally purchased for van life, it has earned a permanent home in my morning routine, legit expresso machine quality coffee at home, simply and inexpensively. It requires extra effort, but it’s so worth it. It travels with me everywhere. I love good coffee…
More Journaling: Earlier this year, stumbled onto this little gem, if my thought journaling was good, this was a power up, the video game equivalent to warping to another level, so now I do both. The 5 Minute Journal, a tool to rewire your brain, built upon neuroscience, its queue to consider three things for which I am grateful each morning, has proven invaluable, and inspired this post. Might be worth checking out if you’re so inclined to such things. Via their website, “A toothbrush for the mind”.
www.joshuas.earth: grateful I started this almost one year ago. It has been a fun ride thus far. I will keep finding adventures and writing words as long as I can, I am grateful for the motivation to write it provides, it has been the gift of learning how to get past the resistance. But whatever, just excited to see where this ride takes me, literally and figuratively.
My Home: It’s been a lot of work and commitment this year, but glad to have my home base back in Indiana for more reasons than I can possibly count. So grateful for what it provides.
Now onto those thoughts of gratitude as they organically spewed out in my journal entries from this past year, the ride, I perused back through and here is a collection, most of these appear over and over, in similar and different forms, but here they are in their simplest condensed form, straight from my memory, a stream of conscious thought after soaking it all in, people, friends, places, experiences, pursuits of mischief in the defile of self and great times, no context, no explanation. All this was originally inspired by this post, another free form stream of consciousness that so many of you seem to enjoy, traffic wise, one of my most popular posts of the year. It does have some great photos of Montana and YNP too…
One Smokin’ Good Ride
Grateful to have, began the year starting this blog, wrote from my heart right from the start, shot photos in some spectacular places, rode 1600 miles in a U-Haul with a really great friend, chased Bonefish and Permit with a fly rod, once again witnessed the beauty of Yellowstone NP, guided my friend to some epic trout fishing on Madison River, been knocked down and rendered flat out speechless by the sight and sound of a beautiful woman, visited Rocky Mountain NP, had more amazing lake weekends than I can count thanks to some great friends, all my wonderful friends who appear over and over, met and shared what I have with people from all walks of life, strolled down perfect beaches on bluebird sunny days so often I have forgotten most of them, been involved in catching a nice Wahoo, to have grilled up said Wahoo for Wahoo salad, drank ice cold Bahamian beer sitting on the backyard sea wall of my villa watching the sun set over the Caribbean sea, went “all in” on Vegas for a few days, had that much needed shot of penicillin in my white ass cheek at a government clinic in the Bahamas, bared my white ass to the nice Bahamian nurse smiling ear to ear, booked a trip to Mexico’s Pacific coast, traveled west in the camper van, had a successful year with my business, joy in my professional accomplishments, set myself up to roll into 2024 in excellent physical condition, wrote more words than any other time period of my life, rediscovered old friends, made a bunch of new ones, eaten all that great food, cooked some great food for friends and family, shared all those endlessly amazing meals with the people I love most, drank some great wines, traveled on small airplanes, spent a week on the remotest of Caribbean islands, to have shot some hoops, journaled nearly every day, enjoyed sweet smelling summer rain showers from the front porch of my new home, wrote these words, experienced a morning where I caught myself dancing down isle 7 at the grocery, to a have sang along with Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, done it like nobody was watching, given no fucks, spent time hanging out with my mom, kicked it with my daughters as much as they will allow me, watched the youngest pitch softballs, witnessed my oldest progress as a talented artist, set my woodworking shop up again, chased elk in the Rocky Mountains, laid down a couple of “not too bad” wakesurfing runs for a fella my age, ate that super spicy Scorch Conch with Bahamian friends, drank Bloody Mary’s in every place I could, a personal goal, every year, oh I can’t forget about really great coffee, grateful to have drank many cups of delicious coffee…
Last but certainly not least, just grateful to be here living this life and all that entails, it is the ultimate gift of the universe, this short window of consciousness as a human being, and the people you meet along the way. You are all the best!
This is clearly just the ride we are on…
“Wherever we go, whatever happens, Mickey, when I look up at the stars, I'll know you'll be lookin' up at the same ones.” - Mallory
“Same ones, baby.” - Mickey
“You make every day feel like kindergarten.” - Mallory
