On Tuesday I packed up my car to go camping at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. Originally, my sister Christina was going to join me but she was sick so I decided to go on my own, knowing that the forecast was for nice weather until about midday Wednesday. I figured I’d stay for at least one night, potentially two, depending on how much rain there was. It felt so good to be outdoors hiking, enjoying the beautiful views, seeing dozens of wild turkeys and a few deer near my campsite, and having a fire in the fire pit. I also spent time that afternoon reviewing my reverse planner from 2025, looking back over the events of the year that I had recorded, seeing what a full year was. I’m so glad I have done these reverse planners for the last several years. When I go through them I realize there’s so much that I forgot about over the course of the year, it’s good to have something to remind me of all the great things that have taken place. Looking at my planner I saw clearly that 2025 was a wonderful year of family, adventure, and growth, as well as losses and challenges. My simple dinner of soup, salad, cheese and crackers was delicious, food always tastes better when I’m camping. Later I snuggled, warm, in my sleeping bag and slept pretty well.
The next morning, New Years Eve, I reviewed my intentions book. I started off the year with intentions in eight different areas of my life, and most weeks I recorded what I wanted to accomplish in those intention areas in the upcoming week. I took a few breaks from this throughout the year, when I was at Green Gulch Retreat Center and traveling in Sweden. About halfway through the year, I went back and reviewed and evaluated each section to see how it was going, and ended up dropping one of my intentions, and revising some others. I spent time throughout the day reviewing my intention work, then recording what I learned over that time. It was fascinating taking in the intention work and the reverse planner to get a fuller picture of my year. The reverse planner was focused on the events and people, and the intentions were more accomplishments (or lack thereof!) and internal work. It gave me a really positive feeling about my year, and I saw that I’m actually living the sustainable life I’ve been wanting without even realizing it! There are areas that I would like to make changes, but it doesn’t feel like it’s a huge, overwhelming task.
Here is what I wrote as a summary of the year: Overall 2025 was a really great year. I got to travel, create, spend time with family and friends, be out in nature, earn money, support nonprofit organizations, contribute to bringing in diverse, excellent judges, met some wonderful people, lived life in a different way several times, celebrated two family weddings and many milestone and regular birthdays, challenge myself physically, did lots of questioning, opened myself up in groups I joined, started online dating, let go of things I no longer needed, gave money to people and organizations that needed it, said goodbye to an old friend and a family member. And there’s so much more I’m probably forgetting right now. Wow! What a year. What does 2026 have in store?
Later in the morning I went for a hike enjoying views of the surrounding hills. It started to rain towards the end of my hike, so I hung out in my warm, dry tent, where I read, journaled and rested. The rain became harder, so I decided I didn’t want to stand in the rain to heat up the rest of my soup, and I had plenty of food that did not need to be heated for dinner. By 7:00 p.m., I was ready for bed, and my tent was starting to get a bit wet in the areas around the zipper. It wasn’t bad enough that I wanted to pack it all in and head home. In the afternoon, when there had been a break in the rain, I had heated up water for a hot raspberry vitamin C drink. The downside is that when I have a hot drink in the evening I have to pee a lot at night, part of the joys of camping!
In the morning, I waited in bed for a break in the rain, then quickly packed up the car. One thing I love about my Subaru is the rubberized mat that covers the entire back part of the car. I put all my dry stuff on the back seat, and then threw the wet tent in the back. Luckily, the rain stayed away as I packed up then headed off to a waterfall hike. The forest was very lush and dripping, just the kind of place I love to hike. The waterfall was only 25 feet, but it was very wild and powerful because of the recent rain, a fantastic sight that I had all to myself. What a fantastic start to the new year! I continued on the trail, and received my first Happy New Year greetings from two older women who were coming down the trail toward me. They were so joyful and welcoming, it was just the perfect way to be greeted for the first time on New Year’s Day.
After my hike I planned to go to a local Peet’s for coffee and oatmeal, but as it was still not raining, I decided to pull out my camp stove and heat up water for my own coffee and oatmeal. It did not take long, and it was definitely better to look out at a beautiful landscape of trees and water, with no one else around than being in a noisy coffee shop. Sustained by caffeine and oatmeal, I decided to hike a little bit more on the Goodspeed trail, a lovely one I hadn’t been on before. I kept climbing up and up and up, feeling so much joy for the new year, and being out in nature. A few times the night before, I had thought I could just go home where it would be warmer and dry, with a fireplace, my own bed, and a flushing toilet. But that’s how my life is 99% of the time and this is an experience that I don’t get to have very often. I love being outdoors, and even if I ended up being cold and wet it’s not the end of the world. I realized I was right where I needed to be, and it was good for me to be in a spot where I wasn’t completely comfortable and cosseted, not that tent camping is really challenging, but it was good to have a break from my routine. I need to plan more camping trips!
Eventually, I started the trek home, the rain got heavier and heavier as I moved further south. Just before I got home it started to ease off, and by the time I parked the rain had stopped completely, giving me a window to haul everything inside before it got wet again. I caught up with my mom and my sister, learning that my mom had fallen out of bed the night before. We talked about how we can find ways to make sure Mom gets help when she needs it. I kept my bedroom door open that night. Luckily, Mom managed to stay in bed all night, though, the next morning after she got out of bed, she tripped and fell in her bedroom. She got a small bump on the head which didn’t hurt and I managed to get her upright. She has so little strength in her arms and legs there’s no way she’d be able to get herself to standing on her own. My sisters and I will have our work cut out for us working with Mom to figure out solutions to keep her safe. She really wants to stay in the house, but I worry that if she’s there on her own for any length of time something could happen. Once she was up and moving around we loaded her walker into the car and drove to Sacramento to meet my sister, Lori, at the Monet Immersive. Mom really enjoyed it, which made me glad as she doesn’t get a chance to do things like that very often. I thought it was good, though not as well done as the Van Gogh Immersive that Emmy and I had gone to in San Francisco a few years before. We had lunch at Eppie’s, an old school diner nearby, then headed home. Lori stayed with Mom as I was heading to Windsor to cat sit for a couple of days.
I got to see a gorgeous sunrise on Friday morning – what a treat!
