Today marks the completion of my 68th trip around the sun. It’s been a year filled with more highs than lows, more joy than sorrow, more growth than setbacks. It feels like I am becoming more fully myself than I have ever been. It’s taken me a long time to get here (68 years to be exact), and it certainly hasn’t always been easy or fun, but I wouldn’t trade a minute of it, because all of it has contributed to who I am now. A special thank you to all my family and friends who have loved and supported me along the way. I might have survived without you (although that is not a certainty), but I absolutely would not be the person I have become. 

In the past 366 days (it was a leap year) I:

• Walked about 2,700 miles (including 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago)
• Published two books, one of which took a couple of months to write (Walking My Pace & Finding My Place: Becoming a Peregrino on the Camino de Santiago), and one of which took several years (Tales from the Stable: Christmas Stories from Those Who Were There)
• Attended four Dances of Universal Peace camps, along with numerous local Dances
• Made several new friends, and enjoyed spending time with lots of long time friends 
• Composed hundreds of “Morning Walk Haikus”
• Spent a fair bit of time soaking in a hot spring next to the Rio Grande as the sun came up
• Got rid of my big pickup and travel trailer 
• Bought a new Hyundai Tucson Plug-in Hybrid and a small pop-up tent trailer 
• Became a fuller, deeper, richer, more grounded and integrated version of myself 

All in all it has been a very good year, and I fully anticipate that this next trip around the sun will be even more amazing. Stay tuned for updates. Thanks for accompanying me on this journey!