This morning I saw the sunrise! No, it's not what you think. I was not out all night celebrating New Year's. Although, that would have been fun too. Instead, i was clear headed and full of hope and possibility.
I was up at 3:45am to work a side job with a private limousine service taking people from Tahoe to the Reno airport. It meant going to bed by 9:30pm and required missing my first ball-drop in Susie recorded memory.
At 6am, I had already delivered my first of five passengers for the day to their curbside destination. I was driving back to Tahoe on I-80 looking over my left shoulder to the horizon. The first light had started to illuminate the sky to the east silhouetting the pine trees along the ridge tops. The sky to the west was still asleep in darkness. House lights speckled the wooded hillside and sparkled in the distance. The sun would not crest for another hour but pink and orange were already kissing the scattered clouds overhead. It was one of those memorable sunrises. Made even more symbolic by the New Year. Hence, the feeling of hope and possibility for the pursuit of my new food career.
I was up at 3:45am to work a side job with a private limousine service taking people from Tahoe to the Reno airport. It meant going to bed by 9:30pm and required missing my first ball-drop in Susie recorded memory.
At 6am, I had already delivered my first of five passengers for the day to their curbside destination. I was driving back to Tahoe on I-80 looking over my left shoulder to the horizon. The first light had started to illuminate the sky to the east silhouetting the pine trees along the ridge tops. The sky to the west was still asleep in darkness. House lights speckled the wooded hillside and sparkled in the distance. The sun would not crest for another hour but pink and orange were already kissing the scattered clouds overhead. It was one of those memorable sunrises. Made even more symbolic by the New Year. Hence, the feeling of hope and possibility for the pursuit of my new food career.
1976 Scamp trailer
Looking for further inspiration, I turned to one of my favorite sources, the podcasts on the The Dirtbag Diaries. With earbud in one ear, I scrolled to the appropriate app on my iPhone and clicked play. Show host, Fitz Cahall, was taking about life transitions. Considering I am in the middle of such a transition, my attention was immediately captured. He and his wife Becka, are expecting their first child. To ensure they still had an "escape hatch" for family adventures, he purchased a 1976 Scamp trailer to refurbish and ready for weekend mountain retreats. Pending fatherhood was feeling bittersweet. He anxiously awaited the next phase in his life and all the new stories it would bring but lamented the untethered freedom to romp in the hills and climb craggy peaks at will. The scamp was an effort to bridge those two worlds.
I don't have kids. And if I don't have a family in my lifetime, it doesn't mean I can't completely and selfishly devote myself to something that will last longer in this world than me. My commitment to changing the food system is 'my baby." Hearing Fitz characterize his transition validated my own.
I don't have kids. And if I don't have a family in my lifetime, it doesn't mean I can't completely and selfishly devote myself to something that will last longer in this world than me. My commitment to changing the food system is 'my baby." Hearing Fitz characterize his transition validated my own.
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