FREE SOLO

Mountains are often used as metaphors to describe life's challenges, and I have found that that comparison is quite apt. My own life has been quite charmed and fairly flat. However, I realized that charmed or easy do not equate to meaningful. In large part, that is why I decided to turn my world upside down and leave a nice job with good friends in a city I enjoyed living in.

What I did not realize is how complicated it would be to move and to start over from scratch. Along the way, my family and I had to sell a house, buy a house, wind down operations in the lab, try to recruit new people for the lab, have several conflict-prone conversations about bringing items with me from work, move said items across the country along with ourselves, navigate finding new schools and soccer clubs for the kids, and settle into a new community all in 5 short months.

I thought of the heights we had climbed when I watched the documentary "Free Solo" tonight that tells the story of the climber Alex Honnold's quest to climb El Capitan in Yosemite without the use of ropes or harnesses. Mind you the words I typed do not do adequate justice to his feat, nor does the route he took shown below. To understand the gravity of his feat, one must watch the film or visit Yosemite - as I have.

What struck my most about Alex and his story though was his motivation. He did not seek happiness or even longevity. He craved excellence and doing something that many believed to be impossible. There were many starts and stops along the way, but he never gave up. While his ascent may have taken just under three hours, he spent years preparing himself to succeed in that moment. His story is one that I will not forget, especially as I encounter other struggles in the coming years and beyond. Fulfillment matters. Excellence matters. One must be willing to risk everything for those things because to get to the top of one's proverbial mountain in truly magnificent. Here's to Alex!

STORYBOOK ENDING

After we returned from France on vacation and before we left Portland, I had a chance to play one more time with my futsal team Arose-And-all, and it was a night to remember.

For the past 4 years, my teammates have been my best friends who provided a much needed connection - one that was unmatched by anything else in my life there.We won many titles together, including three straight league titles, but it was more the understanding we developed with each other on and off the pitch that made that team so special. Therefore, I was excited to have one last chance to play with them.

On that night in the last game of the season, we faced the top-rated team in the le

ague. Though we did not have a chance to displace them on top - even with a win - we all wanted to go out on a high note and avenge an earlier loss to that team.

For much of the season, we have been short-handed due to injuries or vacations, but on that night most of the team was present. We normally spot the opponent the first few goals, but not on that night. We took an early lead, and I scored a first half-hayrick -the first time I have ever done so! We went into the half leading and determined not to let them back in. In the second half, I played back since each player is capped at 3 goals (i.e. even if I scored again, it would not have counted). In the end we finished the match on top 10-7. A very fitting way to wrap up my time with Arse-and-all.


Afterwards, we retired to the bar upstairs for beers and homemade rice krispy treats and chocolate-covered strawberries. I do have the best teammates! At the end, we said our goodbyes and hugged.

As I mentioned, winning became irrelevant as our time together went on. It was the memories we made together - win or lose- and the quality time we spent together during or after the game that made game day - Sunday- my favorite day of the week in the past four years. While my ending with Arse was storybook, so too was every moment with them along the way. Love you Arse!