The Winds of Change

It's been a very busy Autumn, and I haven't had a chance to properly update this blog in a couple months. This is partly because of something that I've kept somewhat under wraps for the last several weeks: we're moving to Washington!

After a lengthy job hunt, I've finally found my quarry and am headed to the Portland area to start the next chapter in my career.

I have loved "nesting in the heart of the Sierra Nevada" for the last few years. Sipping from a mug of something special on our porch as I gaze out across the canyon at layers upon layers of trees and mountains beyond has been pure indulgence. And not only were we blessed with a good view, but with good neighbors too, who made us feel welcome and like someone had our back on the mountain. I can only hope that we were able to return the favor during our time here.

Every season in the Sierra was something new. The winter snows, trying to put in my share of shoveling 3-5 feet deep of snow that fell in 48 hours, really tested my mettle (and yes, probably gave me an early stage of hernia).

The spring wildflowers captivated me, and inspired an entire series of videos where I got paid to go find them and learn about them for work. 

The summers were intense beasts that galloped by while I clung to the reins of schedules and weekend getaway schemes, then left me to the smoke and long hours of fire assignments in its wake. 

And the autumn, like the one that we are partway through now, was a welcome riot of blazing color that I had missed during our years of life on the ocean.

I cannot express how my heart would thrill every time I drove over the crest of Sonora Pass and saw my dear Eastern Sierra, and knowing that it was so close with my friends and favorite places to boot, brought me great joy throughout my time here. I only wish, now that I'm leaving, that I had taken more advantage of it!

The last few years haven't been what I dreamed they would be, but they were hugely gratifying in all that I learned: about myself, about navigating my career, about how public lands functions beyond the simple customer service interactions that were my bread and butter. When I accepted the job, I thought I was going to be a career seasonal who worked the front desk 182.5 days a year; what I ended up with was a year-round job where I led an interpretive department, trained new interpreters, scheduled outside presenters, got my red card, went out on fire assignments as a public information officer, learned how to process recreation residence permits, and started assisting people who had long-term, multi-generational investments in their public lands - beyond just the casual day tripper. 

I've learned a lot about myself as well. I've learned that I LOVE making work schedules, filling out forms, and creating and managing databases and spreadsheets, and that I'm really good at it. That with the proper work-life balance, that nerdy kid who spent all day making bar graphs on her parents' computer in the basement can coexist with the one who found wonder in the great outdoors and spent summers barefoot and after-school hours riding bikes and playing sports with casual gusto. 

And if you haven't put it together yet, let me spell it out plainly here: my poor, introverted self is finally getting a break from situational extroversion. After ten years of being in the public eye - presenting programs and working front desks at visitor centers and ranger stations - this next job is going to put me behind the curtain. For the first time in ten years, my time outdoors will be completely my own. I won't have to worry about someone interrupting my reverie in the whisper of an autumn breeze to ask me how to open a bear-proof trash can. Well, maybe I will. But at least I'll have the option to pretend I didn't hear them. :)

This is going to be a big change, in many ways. And as through everything (except randomly ALL of 2020???), I expect that this blog will continue. If anything, I hope that my new job will free up time for my creative brain to get up and stretch, so that this blog can be an outlet for more of the nature writings that I love to create.