Beauty & light will always be their own reward
Happy New Year! Keeping calm and wandering on.
Hello friends and readers!
Happy 2025! It’s been a year since I launched the Wanderlife project and, as anticipated, I turned fifty at the end of that year. I have not been shy about mentioning this milestone and as a result have received many kind, generous, and truly thoughtful messages of goodwill from friends and loved ones. It feels great! What an important reminder of how special it is to be peppered with love and appreciation!
I feel so nourished and blessed that I want to pass it on by reminding you: Tell the people you believe in and value how much you enjoy them. Tell them what you love about them. Be specific. Tell them straight-up how much their friendship matters and why their presence in your life matters. Tell your people how much they mean to you.
And listen — the people who know and love you are really smart. A dear friend recently told me, “You can’t ask a turtle for milk.” This wise and funny woman was talking about a parent who struggles with mental illness and who is also facing a serious medical diagnosis. The brilliance of the turtle image has come to me many times since that conversation. I pass it on to you in case it might be what you need to hear, too. You can’t ask a turtle for milk, but you might be able to admire their shell or tell them what a great turtle they are.
It’s not yet clear what I’ll be wandering into and sharing in the coming months. We’ll explore together! For now, I am going to end with a few quotes from books I’ve been reading this month. And please know that whether you read the Wanderlife newsletter in your email or on Substack, I am really glad to be moving into 2025 with you!
Sincerely,
“One of the gifts of being a writer is that it gives you the excuse to do things, to go places and explore. Another is that writing motivates you to look closely at life, at life as it lurches by and tramps around.” ― Anne Lamott from Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
“Even ecologists are reevaluating the assumption that intense competition is the primary force regulating evolutionary success.” ― Robin Wall Kimmerer from The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
“How does it feel, you ask? It is comfortable. It is home. I am lucky. I am grateful.”
― Shelby Van Pelt from Remarkably Bright Creatures
“Beauty and light will always be their own reward.” - Margaret Renkl from The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year
love the lake menona and mendota photos.
Good reminders all, Jessica! Happy New Year!!