Dear Friends,
It is February 28th and I am sitting on the back porch of Studio Be, writing this letter in a sweater, jeans, and cotton socks (hardly the uniform of an outdoors person, right?), listening to the sparrows and chickadees chatter in the cedar bushes that fence in the back yard. A cardinal sets off its car alarm in the distance and overhead planes leave trails of white on a late-winter blue sky. What a wonderfully peaceful spot – in the city no less – to write you this thank you note.
From the time I nervously set up my tent for the CHCH spot to the tear down of our booth Sunday afternoon, you were generous with your words of encouragement. We shared love of the outdoors and the kinship that comes along with that. We talked trips people have planned for 2016, trips people have taken recently, women’s connection to Wild Women Expeditions, what it means to trip exclusively with women, and whether or not it was better to be cold camping or hot tenting at -42°C.
I love connecting with people one-on-one. Social media is all well and good but I have come to discover about myself that I need those face-to-face interactions now. Mostly because I work from home and generally my long conversations are with this guy:
After decades of feeling like the outsider, I feel like I’m part of something. I’m where I’m supposed to be right now.
Thank you. Let’s not wait another year to get together.
Kate Monahan Outdoors 