A year defined by recovery, resilience, and rediscovering joy in simple moments together.

Road to Recovery

Miranda’s health journey dominated every aspect of 2017.

For at least eight months, our lives revolved around an endless parade of appointments, tests, specialists, and procedures. We still have medical check-ins, but now they’re spaced months apart instead of happening every few days. If this year was challenging for me, I can’t begin to imagine what Miranda endured. She faced everything with remarkable courage and strength—I’m profoundly grateful she’s still here beside me.

It wasn’t until spring that I felt comfortable traveling again. Anxiety lingered, but we cautiously booked a trip to Boston during our usual spring travel window. Boston was actually the city we’d planned to visit right before Miranda’s health crisis began, so there was something beautifully full-circle about finally making it there. I’m grateful we chose a familiar destination with family nearby, just in case we needed support.

We had an absolutely wonderful time in Boston—it’s such a vibrant, walkable city that perfectly suited our pace.

Throughout the summer, we gradually increased our activity level, reconnected with friends, visited family, and simply enjoyed being together. No, we didn’t attempt the bike ride to Portland or tackle any strenuous backpacking trips, but we had genuine fun. Enjoying life with Miranda is what truly matters. Maybe someday we’ll return to those more adventurous activities, maybe at a different intensity than before—whatever we do, we’ll do it together.

San Francisco

October brought our first-ever trip to San Francisco, and we embraced being complete tourists. Miranda may have gotten a little too enthusiastic about visiting every Full House landmark in the city (🤪), but her joy was infectious.

We also took a pilgrimage to Santa Rosa to visit a little brewery called Russian River—definitely worth the bus ride.

I still can’t quite believe an entire year has passed…