2025 Wrap Up

Hello, welcome to Humbly Courageous. I’m so glad you are here!

It seems like the blink of an eye since I was wrapping up 2024, yet here I am trying to remember all that I did in 2025.

I would like to start by saying, I apologize for slacking on my weekly blog posts. Sometimes I think, how did I ever do this every week?!

As many of you know, I am also wrapping up year two of writing my weekly column for my hometown newspaper. It certainly became more challenging to put out two weekly writings. 

One thing I never want to do is just put out a blog post or column without the quality of content behind it. 

Reflecting on the year, I thought, did I do much this year? Funny how our minds have trouble grasping all that went into an entire year.

The year started out strong with my annual snow walk. It’s always a goal to get one walk in the snow. This year was with Jamie and Jack by my side. They even helped me do a snow angel. What a special memory!

Shortly after that, I was asked to represent MDA on the news to promote their beloved summer camp. A little nerve wracking being on live television, but I fumbled through and somehow did ok!

Next up, was our final spring break trip with Jack for his senior year. His choice was Colorado. We returned to a house in the mountains we had once stayed in and loved. 

While in Colorado, I got to meet Amy Purdy, who I have admired for a long time and who inspired me on my quest to embrace my disability.

I topped off the trip with my second adaptive snow skiing experience, this time in Breckenridge. It was glorious!

Luke had joined us by that time, and seeing my three heroes cheering me on as I got to the bottom, is forever burned into my memory.

There was no shortage of tears as I watched my youngest son run his last track and cross country races this year. At first, I tried to push the tears down, and just felt numb. At some point, I realized that was about as easy as keeping a cricket from chirping. Once the tears started, they didn’t stop and would hit me at the most random times.

When the last one was preparing to leave the nest, my baby boy, there were BIG emotions. I wanted to avoid them, but there was no way.

Graduation parties were planned, college acceptance letters came in, and I wondered how I would keep it all going. How, on my minimal strength, could I do it all? All that I wanted to do for my special boy. 

Did I do enough for him while he was in the safe space of our home, I wondered?

Throughout the year, I had two stem cell treatments. Sadly, neither were done by my beloved Dr. J. He passed away this year, and that was tough too. God put us together, and we both knew it. 

My water workouts thrived this year. Luckily, my husband loves a good graph. I have to admit, it is cool to see my steady progress since starting the stem cell treatments 5 years ago. 

While it’s nothing miraculous, it is progress and not regression. I would call that a win.

I continued my freelance work with Hamilton County Tourism and reviewed several places around the county for accessibility. There were some fun assignments, and I am excited to continue with them in 2026 for our third year together.

We dropped our youngest off at college. The fact that his older brother was there helped to soften the blow. We started our chapter as empty nesters, which isn’t all bad. You get used to your new normal. There are still many moments of missing the days when they were little. 

New beginnings 

We decided to take an empty nester trip, and headed to one of my bucket list places. Maine did not disappoint!

The highlight of the trip was visiting Cadillac Mountain for sunrise. Not easy to score tickets, but I was determined. Much to our amazement, it was a very accessible mountain top experience.

That was a top spiritual moment for me.

With all of these wonderful things mentioned, of course there were hardships. Some which I’ve written about and some I’ll keep to myself.

However, to round out this post, I will share my favorite moment of 2025. That was crossing the finish line of the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon as a family of four, with a team of nearly 50 runners running for Team Humbly Courageous. We are still reminiscing about that day, and the meaning behind it all. We are forever grateful for all who were there supporting us in any way. 

Life throws things in our paths that we feel we cannot possibly live through, yet somehow we do. The impossible becomes possible. 

I am eternally grateful for this time in my life. As my mom said the other day, “our cups runneth over.” Yes mom, they sure do. 

Happy holidays, and may we all ring in 2026 with the humble courage to forge ahead.💚

P.S.

After writing this post, I received my first writing award. The newspaper my weekly column is in, The Hamilton County Reporter, awarded me with the Winter 2025 Ink-Stained Wretch award. That was certainly the cherry on top of 2025! You can read more about it here.

https://readthereporter.com/unparalleled-honesty-for-the-win/