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Hometown

Park City, UT

Joie de VIVre

Although I am not a pilot, I enjoy the essence of flight. I am always searching around every corner for the next big high. I'm also a fan of skiing and backpacking.

VIV Moment

About two years after opening my own restaurant in a remote part of Colorado, where I worked 12–14 hours a day, seven days a week for two years, I came into my house late one night and stubbed my toe on what seemed to be an enormous athletic shoe. In my complete exhaustion, I could not figure out whose shoe this could be. It clearly was not my husband’s shoe, and my mind raced about who could be in my house? Perhaps I was in the wrong house? No.

Suddenly, like a bolt of electricity through my body, I realized that my son wore a size 10 men’s shoe. When did that happen? I also realized in that moment that I had completely missed out on the prior two years of my children’s lives and that I didn’t even know who they were anymore. I was devastated.

I instantly knew what I had to do. I needed to literally reboot. My soul was not being fed; my children were barely being fed! I closed my restaurant and sold my house. I needed to spend uninterrupted time with my children to get to know them again. We bought a camper van and drove to the Northern California coast, where the kids and I spent six weeks camped out at the ocean and falling in love again. My family thought I had lost my mind by taking my children out of school and uprooting them so abruptly. However, my conviction never faltered. There was such a strong sense in my soul that I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

I will never regret that time at the ocean. That time to fall in the love with my kids and myself again. I will never get that time back. The quiet days helped me focus. The grains of sand gave me perfect perspective. The experience gave me the strength, clarity and confidence to know that nothing could keep me from my dreams.

Today, I am a single mother living in Park City, UT. I am so blessed to clearly know what my soul truly desires and to be living that dream every day. When I start to feel like I should move to a less expensive area and doubt my lifestyle choices, I think back to someone who recently said to me, “If you are lucky enough to work or live in Park City, you are lucky enough.” All I can say is “TA-DA” with my arms held high and a big grin on my face. No matter how stressful life gets, I am comforted knowing that I always have the ability to go back there to that place that brought me so much peace.

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