The first time I flew an actual glider, after months of simulator training. The feeling of actually soaring through the air, of catching a thermal and spiraling up to cloud base... amazing. It was a quiet, slow sort of amazing, but I will never forget the three weeks that I spent with my mom in Panama after I graduated college. There is something about being near the ocean that brings me fully into the present moment... to have had that time, and to have shared it with my mom (who is also one of my best friends) is something I will always treasure.

Animals, especially animal behavior, communication, and training; flying gliders (I'm part way through training); walking on beaches, though I don't get to do that nearly often enough; sci-fi and fantasy books; art & crafting of all kinds, especially photography, ceramics, and bookbinding. I love creating systems and organizing things, but I hardly ever manage to apply that to my own stuff.