There and Back Again

  Growing up in Minnesota, I would fish off my dock at the cabin or occasionally go out on a boat with friends. I enjoyed it, but never loved it. It was too boring. Too predictable. My dad, having grown up in Colorado, was a talented fly fisherman but we never had much opportunity to practice. Starting summer before my senior year, we started going out on trips to the Snake River in Idaho and that began my obsession with it as well. The moving water, the artistry of a perfect cast, the beautiful places in which you do it, the fight a trout gives you, all of it. It is amazing. On that same fall break trip, my dad and I were able to sneak way early on morning and fish the San Miguel for a couple hours. This picture encapsulates the adventure of fly fishing. You often have to bushwack in and then are constantly moving along the river, trying to find the next perfect hole. The sound of moving water constantly fills your ears, but beyond that there is silence aside from the variety of r...

  My dad grew up in Grand Junction on the western slope of Colorado. When he was 9, his dad and grandpa bought a cabin on Trout Lake, just outside Telluride. It quickly became his favorite place- with all of the fishing, skiing, and exploring he could ever want to do. It birthed a life-long love affair with that part of the country. However, when he was a senior in high school, his parents got divorced and his dad sold the place. He lost his favorite place but dreamed for the next 30 years of getting back there. So when a 10-acre property 40 minutes outside of Telluride opened up and by the grace of God my parents and aunt and uncle were able to secure it, it was full circle dream come to. What was his favorite place has quickly become mine. Thoroughly removed from the bustling world, these two cabins sit on beautiful land with beautiful views and endless list of things to do. I have been there four times now and I don’t feel happier and more at peace anywhere else in the world. Th...

  I will never forget our last day out at the Nature Center. I enjoyed the whole time out there and the work that we did. As I have previously reflected, I often feel a dissonance between the person I am and the person that I want to be. I feel like I don’t the amount of work I need to be successful and then feel more frustrated when that success doesn’t come. I know a lot of it is internal, negative self-talk, but there are legitimate grievances for sure. That is why I enjoyed the nature center as much as I did. Each day we were given clear instructions and at the end we could see tangible results. When I often feel like I do not measure up to my peers, I could go to this nature center and excel. On this particular day, there were a lot of grumblings about class not being cancelled despite the rain and I was certainly a contributor. I was coming in with a lot of baggage to that day, having not gotten a job I thought I locked up and recently having started a hard battle with addict...

              I had several blocks of time last week where I sat in the sun with orchestral music in my ears and relaxed. In the go-go world I live in, I was poignantly aware of how good it felt to sit, close my eyes, and feel the sun on my face. It was the perfect temperature too- around fifty degrees, so I was warmed by the sun but not overheated. My sister and mom both love to sit and bake in the sun and I have never enjoyed it. That temperature, however, is perfect. Both of the times I was able to pause and reflect on the semester I’ve had. It has been filled with ups and downs, but I have undoubtedly grown as a human and learned a lot about myself in the process. I have a high standard for myself and often fall short of those expectations. If you never are able to stop and look back, you will never see the progress you’ve made. In these moments, I was able to do that. It filled me gratitude for the people in my life and ga...

  I can rag on the DFW metroplex for the depressing sprawl it sometimes feels like. I get a little sad/overwhelmed when I fly into it and see endless development for miles and miles. Something about it feels different then New York, LA or Chicago when I fly in there. Maybe it could use a large body of water or something. However, there is one area that DFW stands high above any other place when it comes to natural beauty: the sunsets. I am not sure what is going on down here, but the greatest sunsets I have ever seen have all been at TCU. They aren’t common enough where you lose interest, though. Each time it happens, everyone comes out of their house to look and you see pictures all over social media. Sunsets are one of the most universal human joys. There is something wired within all of us to look at the skies in awe when it is painted a million brilliant colors. They are also very fleeting, often peaking for only 15 minutes or so. In this particular case, I was sitting downstai...

  Mary Oliver Reflections 1.       Wild Geese This opening poem blew me away and made me excited to read the rest of her poetry. In general, this poem spoke to me as one of comfort. She illustrates how the world moves on no matter your current circumstances. That is a common idea, but she takes it a step further. Most leave it in almost cold way- your problems don’t matter because the world keeps on moving. She writes that it moves on while constantly inviting you in to take refuge. “The world offers itself to your imagination, / calls like the wild geese, harsh and exciting- / over and over announcing your place / in the family of things”. Nature is made up of an infinite number of random chances that lead to you being here in this moment. If you listen, nature will always be there to remind you that you belong to a greater and more beautiful tapestry than us humans can fathom.   2.         Spring I love how wit...