One year ago last week I decided to give El Guapo (the van) the rest he deserved and set up shop in South Lake Tahoe.  The decision was based equally on business reasons and personal reasons, and if you have followed along on this adventure over the years you will remember the post, New Homebase / Road Reflection.

            The funny part is, I didn’t even realize it had been a year until I started to think about this post and all that has been going on lately.  When I did realize a year had passed, I was already smiling from ear to ear.

    And that is when you know you have made a good decision :-).

            When deciding the course of our lives (yes, DECIDING), it is very easy to get caught up in the tricky details.  Our heads can fill with questions like, “well, if I do this, then what if this happens, or that?”

            In the end, it is actually very simple.  All we can ever do is make rational decisions based on the amount of information we have at that time.  If something changes, then change with it, but never hold yourself from something because of the nagging “What If” thoughts.  It is not always easy (maybe it’s never easy), but if you can hold yourself to those parameters, big decisions become less daunting.

            This was the same process for me getting into the van full-time as it was getting out.

            It may sound crazy, but exiting the van-dwelling life was a little scary.  At that point it was what I knew, it was how I had lived my life for a long time.  Suddenly, I would be tied to one place, have to start over with making friends and becoming part of a community.  I would need to re-shape the entire business, put my name to a place.  Again, it sounds crazy because people think that moving back into a home is a return to normalcy, but it has nothing to do with social norms.  It has everything to do with making a big life change, which is scary every time.

            The long-winded point of all of this is that I cannot believe a year has gone by.  This has been, by far, the fastest year of my life and I think it is due to the types of projects I have chosen to get involved with.

            From working with Soft Power Health and Jessie Stone in Uganda to working with the High Fives Foundation based locally here in Truckee, CA, and everything in between, there has just been a very GOOD vibe during the last year.

            This also goes in line with the point made above about deciding the course of our lives.  Working with these groups on these projects was no accident or shift of luck.  There were very direct steps taken to make these possibilities a reality.

            Having just returned from an adaptive waterski program with the High Fives crew in Mississippi, I can say that I am glad those steps were taken.

            Last week it was my job to document this amazing group of adventure athletes with life altering injuries learn how to waterski.  They pushed each other, displayed the most positivity I have ever seen, overcame huge obstacles and, of course, gave out a lot of high fives.

            Being someone with a longstanding background in wakeboarding, I couldn’t believe some of what I was seeing and shooting.  For these athletes, everything is more difficult and they were showing me that they are up for the challenge, and that they will surpass every expectation, every time.

            The entire experience was amazing for everyone, and in my silent reflection behind the shutter, I know that I grew a lot personally from this trip.  My only hope is that the images do the story justice.

            I want to thank High Fives for bringing me along, but I also want to send out a HUGE Thanks to Bill and Denise Bowness of Unlimited Skiing and the Holland and Dunnaway families for their unbelievable hospitality.  You all made this experience what it was.

            In the end, all decisions lead us to something else.  If I had not chosen to set myself up in Tahoe one year ago, who knows if I would have ever had the chance to go to Mississippi last week.

(Nik Sullivan and Steve Wallace giving Landon McGauley a little extra encouragement.)

(Landon McGauley carving up the evening glass.)

(Some of the hilarity of the trip. Roy Tuscany and Steve Wallace deciding a spray tan in Mississippi would be fun, haha!)

(Mark Urich doing the impossible and slalom skiing on one leg. Mark, you are a BEAST!!!)

(I even got to do some riding. Sending a HUGE Thanks to Mark Urich for shooting the image!)