I blinked and 10 years passed. A whole decade. Lately this blog has only documented our journeys, so I don’t want to deviate too far from that. I simply want to state that this last road trip changed all of us. When I think of the transformations the girls went through, I think that as much as they did change, they only became more of themselves. Zoe turned 10 today. And this last year was a remarkable one. The road trip allowed her to take risks that were so outside her comfort zone, but with us holding her up (sometimes literally, thinking of crossing the river in the flash flood) she flourished. She was often our voice of reason and she found joy in that role in our family. Her compassion for the Earth, the environment, and its people greatly increased. She became stronger, physically and mentally. Heck, she hiked 16 miles last weekend without a whimper or whine. She has also changed in so many splendid ways outside of these adventures through the past year. She’s a young lady, whom I am incredibly proud to call my daughter, my confidant, my friend, a role model, and a star in my life.
