This past year was a time of growth, new opportunities and embracing the unexpected in a period clouded by the COVID-19 pandemic and still recovering from a vicious 2020 election cycle. With the mass release of the COVID vaccine planned for early 2021, hopes were high at the start of the year that we would squash the disease and put this contagion behind us. The masks would come off, families would come back together and life would resemble what we’ve always known—right?

Unfortunately as the year progressed and we were plagued by new COVID variants Delta and Omicron it soon became clear that there was another chapter left for COVID. Despite this we learned to just move on with life, albeit masked and with the weird question hovering: “what’s next?”

But first… an insurrection.

On January 6th 2021 a mob of thousands of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, attacked and beat police officers, smashed windows at our Capitol Building, paraded confederate flags in the sacred halls (likely the first time in history this ever happened)--and as planned--interrupted the vote certification process being completed by Congress. Luckily, after three brutal hours of fighting, law enforcement were able to retake the building, and at midnight Congress reconvened to finish their work. Biden was certified the winner and later that month he was inaugurated the 46th president of the United States. Trump was out of the White House and off of social media.

Hope was alive.

Despite the craziness of politics and the hardship of COVID, I felt the only sensible thing to do was to keep living life. We would try to set goals and make plans, and if things changed we would adapt. Emily, my girlfriend (and later fiancé and wife) and I signed up for a few trail races including the scenic Badger Mt. 50K and Sun Mountain 25K. We did house projects including the replacement of our roof, gutters, front entry and rear door—adding to the window replacements we completed the previous year. (You should search #COVIDHomeImprovement. Really, it’s a thing.) We figured that if we weren’t traveling we might as well invest in our home—now also my office.

In March, I finished a painful but necessary chapter in my life. I finally paid off the remaining $28,000 in student loan debt I owed the US government. I’ve been indebted with student loans since last millennia (Cira 1999), so offloading that weight felt wonderful. I could start living. This debt truly haunted me for so long I felt a touch traumatized. While I love the insights uncovered by data analysis, I couldn’t muster the motivation to calculate how much interest I paid on the original $62,000 of student loan debt from a bachelor’s and master’s degrees. The truth would undoubtedly hurt.

In late May, just one day after my second vaccine shot took effect, I boarded a redeye flight home to New York for my first visit with my parents in over a year and a half. Then just a month later we came together again but this time we met in New Jersey—and my partner Emily, and brother Mike and his wife Emily and son Luke also joined. There we enjoyed the waves, beach and bikes of Ocean City. I had vaguely recalled the town from my youth but didn’t trust that it was as wholesome as my memory relayed. Luckily, it was. What a magical, perfect place!

Throughout the spring a major focus of mine was competing in the Seventy48 human-powered boat race from Tacoma to Port Townsend, Washington. The race was cancelled due to COVID the year before so by the time we got to race day Leon and I just wanted to see the event finally through. We had trained using a borrowed double kayak, went over supplies and doubled checked everything.

But was it enough?

Joel jumping by rainbow at Pt. No Point Park — Pt. No Point Park treated us to a stunning rainbow that arched across the entire sky

The first evening of weather wasn’t terrible, but the second day and night was madness. Whitecap waves, head-on gusts and sustained winds, bone-chilling temperatures and general misery. I ended up making it to mile 52 before bailing from the race and retreated to a drop toilet to escape the cold.

Leon chose to paddle the remaining miles solo and lucked out with a passage of calmer seas. The next day I ran 18 miles to pay back what I missed on the paddle. I still owe those water miles too. I also southed my hurt feelings by talking with other racers who capsized and had to be rescued by the Coast Guard. It could have been worse for sure!

With the summer in the Pacific NW now in full motion, I had a plan underway to take my relationship with Emily to the next level. My mom had previously gifted me her original vintage engagement ring. I had stored it securely in the rear of my underwear drawer for over a year as I prepared for the right moment. I also had the diamonds repaired and the band cleaned at a local mom-and-pop jeweler. My plan was to propose to Emily atop Aasgard Pass just outside of Leavenworth, Washington. While Emily and I have separately run the Engagements Loop that includes Aasgard many times, we had never done the 19-mile trek together. To add some adventure to the event, I decided to bike to Leavenworth from the Snoqualmie Valley on a collection of trails and side roads. There I’d meet Emily where we’d crash in the car for the evening and then run/climb the loop the next morning. The ride went perfectly. My minimalist camping kit fit easily into the saddle bags on either side of my Surly Crosscheck. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel much ache when I rolled into Leavenworth after 110 miles on the saddle and plenty of acescent and gravel grinding.

The next day, after Emily and I rubbed the sleep out of our eyes we caught an early morning shuttle to the trailhead. The day was progressing perfectly. After topping out at Aasgard at over 8,000’, I suggested that Emily and I duck into the shadow of a ridge to escape the strong sun beaming down on us and to enjoy some snacks during a quick break. We’d rest and eat before continuing the run.

This was also the perfect place to propose—adjacent to an ice melt pond and under the shadow of stone spires. I had brought a GoPro to capture the run, but also to mount on my trekking pole to capture the proposal (Joel always has a plan). After balancing the pole between rocks and mounting the camera, I stepped out in front of the camera and pond. Everything looked beautiful.

Joel Proposing to Emily in the Enchantments

Now was the moment.

I called to Emily to come over and join me. Initially she didn’t move from the shadow refuge. She was resting and munching on cheese and meat. It took me a few more calls for Emily to finally walk the fifty or so feet to my position. As soon as she sat down next to me on a rock, I pivoted on my foot and took a knee.

“Will you marry me” I asked.

“Are you kidding me!” she exclaimed, following by….”Yes!”

I slide the oversized engagement ring onto her finger before placing it back in it’s protective sleeve for safe storage. We’d have it sized back in Tacoma.

We then spend the rest of the run discussing how we’d get married—settling on a low-key affair at a trailhead in a little over a month. Easy, cheap and perfect. Yes!

In just over six weeks later we got married at the Suntop Fire Lookout adjacent to Crystal Mt. and in the shadow of Mt. Rainier. My buddy Leon served as the minister and Emily’s mom and Leon’s wife served as witnesses. Their son, Arthur, rounded out our gang, not counting our troop of three dogs—Maple, Luna and Leon and Jill’s pup, Spencer. After a quick ceremony, we all spent a few nights at a local cabin not far from Suntop. We soaked in the hot tub while spying elk crossing through the heavily wooded backyard just steps from our door. Awesome.

While my racing still doesn’t look anything like it did before COVID, I was lucky to fit in the spring races. In July I even returned to White River 50-Miler and earned my sixth and slowest finish in unseasonably warm temperatures. Looking back at the year my favorite (non-proposal) adventure was attempting to climb Three Fingers Lookout. Located off of the Mountain Loop Highway, this epic climb involves biking in ten miles while climbing a rocky forest service road. My buddy Charlie and I stowed our bikes in the trees and started a technical hike through dense forest. Trail angels even left machetes with a note encouraging hikers to use the blades to clear brush and to leave the tools behind on our exit. Epic!

After three very long miles of hiking up and down narrow trail, Charlie and I finally made it to Goat Flats and the views started to open up. The trail wove around the basin and gave a spectacular view of the hut perched (impossibly) high atop the fingers. How it doesn’t blow away with a gust I’ll never know.

While Charlie and I were making progress, he ran out of water and I was almost out and we were still about three tough miles from the summit. We hadn’t even crossed the glacier section. In looking at our turn time, we decided that we’d have to return another day to summit. Unlike many hikes, getting to the summit of Three Fingers is only the first part of the adventure. We’d still need hike out and bike ten miles downhill, cross a bridge, pack up and drive out on road marked with potholes and rocks. The conservative approach was the right choice this time. But we will be back.

But growth wasn’t just limited to my relationship with Emily, housework and finances. I also was lucky to earn a promotion to Sr. Manager at BECU after five and half years of service. After working professionally in my field of study for twenty years I’ve collected a body of work that I’m proud of and which represents a host of skills within marketing and communications. I’ve had the pleasure of planning large-scale media buys, running event marketing for product launches, produced streaming and TV ads, ran social, employee engagement and local listings programs, supervised staff and on and on. The common thread has been the use of storytelling to rally support around good ideas. I hope to continue this work for another twenty years, and hopefully to continue to progress within my field.

While I have much to be grateful, my top delight from 2021 was Emily and my success in getting PREGNANT! Three years ago Emily endured three rounds of IVF egg retrieval. We then tested and froze the embryos that survived. Just days after our wedding, we visited Seattle Reproductive Medicine to have the embryo implanted. Just two weeks later the pregnancy test came back POSITIVE. While this was still very early in the process, and Emily would have to endure 60+ days of daily progesterone injections and other meds, we were hopeful. Things looked even brighter when we had the first ultrasound, and then just after the New Year we had the anatomy scan and the baby looked healthy. We will be welcoming an awesome child into the world May 20, 2022. Mark your calendars and celebrate loud!

So the had some rewarding experiences and plenty of growth. I hope to realize even more in 2022.