kindness – Page 2 – Liz's Gypsy Journey

World Spins Madly On

October 4, 2018 Liz's Gypsy JourneyLeave a comment

Life has been keeping me hopping lately. I apologize for not keeping my blog as up to date as I would like to. But I figure it’s better late than never. Right? August was a busy month. Fire season was roaring and adventures were taking place.

I found myself traveling not only in the state of California for work but even got to take a trip to Idaho which lead me to some time spent with friends and family not only in Idaho but Oregon as well.

The first weekend of August brought my trip to Idaho. I went and spent some time with some friends in Redmond Oregon on my way up and enjoyed the Deschutes county fair. We had a great time walking around, got to catch part of the Big N Rich concert and got to watch one of my good friends from home put on an acoustic show.

After leaving Redmond I stopped by my friend’s place on the Idaho Oregon border and got to meet her newest little one and spend time with her oldest daughter. One thing about traveling is that you can stop and visit loved ones which is always a perk for me.

I finally made it to my cousin Kelly’s place in the amazing and beautiful Boise Idaho. I always love getting to spend time with Kelly and spend time in Boise. It has definitely became one of my favorite places to go.

I also made the trip to Garden Valley which is just north of Boise to visit Dino who I met during my bear hunt in Idaho the previous year. He showed me around Garden Valley more, gave me the tour of his taxidermy shop and even showed me where the natural hot springs were in the valley that I had no idea existed. Garden Valley definitely is one of a kind and filled with wild life.

Once I made it back from Garden Valley I was able to meet up with my friend’s sister Katie. She just happened to be visiting her best friend in Boise. We got a beer and caught up. We also got to check out Freak Alley in downtown Boise and it was incredible! A bunch of local artists get together the first saturday of August and repaint this alley. The art on the walls of this alley was incredible and I cant wait to go back and see the new art. Another highlight of the day was when we were walking back to the parking garage there was a group of people with signs that said free hugs so of course me being me I had to give them hugs. Little did I know it was a campaign to spread love instead of hate. I thought it was a really neat idea and I had never heard about it.

Sunday I made my way to get my trailer picked up from the yard in Nampa. I went back to Redmond to my friends where I dropped the trailer so I could go meet up with my sister Britt and her family for the evening. We went to the Les Schwab Amphitheater and watched the Pixies perform. It was a fun concert and definitely a good time. Spending time with my sister is always one of my favorite things to do.

The next couple of weeks was spent on the road towing trailers to the next fire camp or wherever they were needed. One thing about fire season is that you never know where you are going to end up or where. We also celebrated my dads 66th birthday at the house with my sister Nicole and her family.

Now the end of August got busy fast. I got a phone call asking if I wanted to attend the San Francisco giants game the next day and me being a sports lover and a Giants fan I couldn’t turn it down. So my friend Gabby picked me up and off to the game we went. We had a great time and the Giants pulled off the win. We also just made a day of it in San Francisco which lead us to Pier 39 and the fisherman’s wafer. It was a day full of laughter.

The next few days was crunch time for my trip to Seattle. I spent the first part of the week packing and getting work finished up. I moved a trailer to Fresno then spent a few days in Elk Grove with my friend and her family. She took me to the airport and I was off to visit my family in Seattle….

20 Something

June 29, 2018June 29, 2018 Liz's Gypsy JourneyLeave a comment

Every June brings a day that as a kid you can’t wait for it to get here. As I get older I still enjoy this day and the happiness it brings but with the happiness it also brings a bigger number. A number that when I was younger I couldn’t wait to hit the milestones. 16 I was able to drive, 18 I was a legal adult and 21 I could partake in the adventures at the bar. But after 21 what milestone do you have next? 30, 40, 50? But each year you have to face that day. The day that also makes you sit back and think about what you have accomplished that last year. The day that makes you set your goals for this year. The day that is called your birthday is the day in June that I now have a bittersweet feeling about.

June 21 is that day for me. It is the longest day of the calendar year and some years it is even the hottest. It is a day that as I get older I like to take the time to once again reflect on the last year and set goals for the year that is in front of me. This year instead of staying home and enjoying a lunch and dinner with loved ones, I went on the road and headed to Boise to get a trailer. What better place to reflect then on the road, in a vehicle by yourself, all the time in the world and the radio to spark memories and thoughts.

This last year was one for the books. I had an incredible year surrounded by loved ones and friends. I traveled the USA for work. Met new people, made new memories and stood by the side of a loved one when they found out it was cancer that we would be fighting. But even with that obstacle the year I was 27 definitely was incredible.

I was able to see the fireworks fall over the ocean in Pismo Beach with a good friend, got to marry a friend off to the man of her dreams, was there when my friend’s son harvested his first buck, got to watch my first live college football game, enjoyed a road trip to Nebraska that brought in the amazing sights of Arch’s National park, had an impromptu trip to Nashville with two awesome ladies, enjoyed watching a friend win the world championship title, traveled with some of the best gals in town, watched my best friend receive her college degree and just made the choice to enjoy being alive.

There was so many events that happened in my life my 27th year that I can’t list them all. There was ups and there was downs. There was moments when I just needed a hug from one of my closest friends. There was moments that I felt like I had an elephant sitting on my chest because of the obstacle that was in front of either myself or a loved one. There was times that without that hug I feel like my world would’ve crumbled even more.

One thing I have learned this last year is that it isn’t always about the people you share blood with but it’s about the people who can watch you walk into a room and just by the way you say hi they know if you are ok or not. Or the friends that get the message that your dad is sick and within a few hours show up because they know you need them. Friends are such a big part of everyone’s life. They are the family that you choose. Normally the ones that know you better than your own family and some are the ones that have your back on the roughest days. I am so thankful to have the group of friends that I do. They definitely are my go to people and I know they have my back.

I learned is that it is absolutely ok to be single. This is something that I learned a while ago but the older I get the more I realize just how ok it is. I have learned that I am independent almost to a fault, I am passionate about life and the people who are in it, I am loyal almost to a fault and I am ok on my own to be a strong independent woman. So until the right one comes along I am just going to enjoy being single because this girl is in no rush.

I learned that in life you are going to come across some people who you just aren’t a fan of. But that it is ok because everyone is different. Everyone is here for a reason. Everyone has their own views and beliefs and that is fine. If we were all alike it would be such a boring world.

But one thing that I have also seen a lot the last year that saddens me is that people judge others by the color of their skin, who they love and what they believe without even knowing the person that is inside. I am one of those people who truly loves to learn about others and who they are on the inside. I truly believe that the color of the skin, beliefs and who they love don’t make up the whole person. It is just a part of them.

I wish the world didn’t judge so quickly and look down upon others just for those reasons. I wish that people took the time to say hi to the random stranger or the person that looks like their day just sucks. I wish that people would just learn to get a long and be ok with the fact that we are all different but just because you are different doesn’t mean you are a bad person. Your actions prove that but it’s not your skin color, beliefs or who you love. At least to me your actions prove more to me then anything.

27 was a year to remember. A year that I am happy to have behind me and a year that I am thankful that I got to enjoy. Did it have hardships? Yes. Did it have days where I felt lonely? Yes. Did it bring along the loss of a friend? Yes. But even with the obstacles it brought me I wouldn’t change a day. Because everyday that I was able to do what I love is and was a good day.

28 has officially arrived and I am ready to hit it head on. I am ready to spend more time with loved one, I am ready to travel more and I am ready to take it head on. Here is to 20 something!

Man In The Mirror

May 22, 2018May 22, 2018 Liz's Gypsy Journey1 Comment

Growing up everyone is raised differently. Everyone has their own beliefs, morals and standards and even views. A lot of the time those aspects of people are taught to us. Some of them are definitely learned but a lot of how we are as people in my opinion is a taught trait by someone we look up to or the environment that we are raised in.

I feel so lucky to have been raised around strong women and by a father that never told me I couldn’t do something. One of the life lessons that I was taught early that my father would always say was “Can’t never did anything.” Every time I used the word can’t around my father it was followed up with that statement. I remember it use to drive me crazy but now looking back I realized it pushed me to try and do my best whenever something tried to get in my way. Whenever I wanted to try something knew my dad has had my back even if he thought it wasn’t the best idea he still supported me. I was raised by a heck of a guy that yes definitely isn’t perfect but he helped form me into a independent women that knows that the sky is the limit if I want to reach it.

The women in my life that also helped shape me into the independent driven women that I am helped to teach me that it is ok to lean on someone if you need to but it is also ok to stand on your own two feet and be ok with who you are. I have had such an amazing village help raise me and I will forever be grateful for that.

Being raised to be independent is a curse as well as a blessing. Some find me to be cocky because I truly believe that I can accomplish whatever I want. Some find me selfish because I don’t want my own children. Some find me to be to independent because I am not constantly on the search for someone to date/marry because I truly am ok with who I as a single woman. To those people that think that about me I thank them and also feel for them.

I thank them for seeing me as a strong women that knows that I am not just on this earth to just survive but on this earth to live. I thank them for saying I am selfish because when they get to the bottom of it I know what I want and how my heart and head feel. I thank them because they can see that I am ok on my own and not sad or lonely. I feel for them because deep inside 9/10 times your haters hate something about themselves that they haven’t worked out.

This world is hard and this world can suck. People can be your friend at one point and turn around and prove to you that they actually aren’t. But that is life. Sometimes life is hard, sometimes you have to push yourself to get out of bed, sometimes life is incredible and you want to yell from the rooftop. Every morning I try to thank God for another day on this earth because your day is what you make it. You can wake up hating life but why? Why not find the good in the bad? Why not be a friend to someone who needs you? Why not yell from the rooftop how good you have it even if you think that your world is falling apart? Everyone goes through things. Sometimes they are good sometimes they are bad but overall even at your bottom you are still doing good because you have still have the chance to live and change.

From the amazing people that helped raise me I also have a heck of a support group with my friends. There are a handful of people that I know I can call at any time day or night and they will be there for me. Even the friends that I have grown apart from and that I am not super close with anymore I know still have my back because I have theirs. Aside from your blood family I truly believe that the people you surround yourself with turn into your family. They turn into your tribe, your ride or dies, the ones you can call in the middle of the night and know that they will come to you if you need them. They know you better then you know yourself most of the time and can tell by the look on your face if you are ok or not. Those are the people that you hang onto a little bit harder because even in the crappy times you know you have each others back. To say I’m grateful for my tribe is an understatement because they truly know me and the independent person I am.

Aside from being independent and having an amazing support system that yes I realize not everyone has I also try to be kind and volunteer. As Ellen Degeneres would say “Be kind to one another.” That little statement has stuck with me since I first heard it. Why not be kind? Why not say hi to the random person you pass or even just a simple smile can go a long way. This world has so much hate in it why not be the person that helps bring joy? Volunteer for something not to make yourself feel better but because you want to make a difference. Take the time to find your happy, support your people that support you, help a person in need, make a difference in someones life especially a child’s and overall just be kind and love one another. When you look in the mirror make sure you are happy with the person that you see because in the end if you aren’t happy with yourself are you truly doing what you are meant to be doing?