The Elation and the Devestation

Since moving to Moab in 2010 to participate and experience the extreme sport "mecca" of the world, I have experienced more death than I ever have before. This is not something I EVER could have prepared myself for or ever would have expected. Death's occurring in the sports of climbing, rope swinging and flying; this year has been particularly extreme. I find it very difficult to process it all. I don't know how to react considering that I participate in the same dangerous sports that these deaths have occurred within and my boyfriend, Mark, does as well. Each time it has been a slap in the face and the most recent passing, Mario Richard, has particularly effected both Mark and I.  Mario was one of the world's most talented and passionate fliers having over 7,000 Skydives and 2,000 BASE Jumps without so much as a sprained ankle over a span of 25 years.  It is bringing up a lot of questions that I have about my lifestyle of choice and how I see the world in general. What does it all mean? How could even the best of the best die doing what they worked so hard to master?

Mario was one of our role models, both him and his beautiful wife Steph. We admired them immensely not only for their loving relationship but also their achievements and their maturity. Mario was especially an inspiration to Mark who also flies. He looked up to Mario for his long time safety record, his achievements, his business "Moab BASE Adventures", his willingness to teach others and his overall positive energy even through times of turbulence. We are both devastated and cannot fathom what Steph is going through. My heart goes out to her in this tragic time and I am hoping she finds peace within this loss. I will always remember my first flight through the deep red desert canyons which I could not have experienced without Mario and his passion for human flight. Thank you. You will always be remembered and will continue to serve as a role model for us regardless of where you are. A friend of mine has said, "They are not gone, they have only changed residence".

The laughter and the happy

I just took some time to read through some very, very old blog posts and let me just tell you....THAT was eye opening. I was so happy!!!!! I was writing about hilarious encounters I had with people, strange people, dogs, things that made me laugh...wow. I am in shock at how much I have changed over the years and how caught up I became in "being successful". I just got off the phone with my sister and in explaining my posts to her i said "the laughter and the happy!!!" and she suggested that be my new motto :) I think that's a great idea. Wow....my posts actually used to be quite funny. Time to get back to that happy place!!!

Going Facebook Free

Today is my first day Facebook Free and I can't tell you how excited I am to be doing this. Facebook has been such a big part of my life as I'm sure it has for many people in today's world. As fun as it can be seeing what everyone and their mother is doing on a minute by minute basis, I was really starting to notice how it was negatively affecting me and the overall quality of my life. I was so consumed with what I was posting on Facebook and what other people were posting on Facebook rather than being consumed with what was actually going on in my daily life. Somehow I was able to take a step out of it and look at it from an outside perspective: my life had become more virtual than it was real! Today being the first day, it's a bit funny, but I was actually thinking out of habit that I wanted to make a post on Facebook what it was like not being on Facebook. This made me laugh. This is the exact reason that I am going to "detox". I don't want my automatic response to any event to be posting about it. Rather, I want my response to be pure enjoyment and sharing it with those that are around me. Being the first day I can see that this is going to be a challenge but I'm ready! I'm so ready for this change and am beyond excited to see how it affects me and my overall happiness.

I am looking forward to continuing this blog and now that I will be Facebook Free I will feel more compelled to actually write. I have always loved writing but neglected it over the past few years. It really allows me to process my feelings and what I'm going through rather than bottling them up. That being said I will continue to write about my struggles, my experiences and everything in between. Time to enjoy the day!