Happy New Year 2022

I was too late to send cards for Christmas! I just sent some Happy New Year Cards today (as shown above), still trying to track down some mailing addresses for some people.

On the inside I wrote, a lot. See below.

2021 was a lot like 2020. I am still working mostly remotely. Zoom is amazing; I hate Zoom. My job remains fulfilling. As I mentioned last year, I met someone for coffee in March 2020 the day before Denver shut down for COVID-19. Meeting him remains the #1 best thing about 2020, 2021.

He taught me to bike – road, mountain, snow; and more importantly to be a kinder person. I’ve logged thousands of miles and seen many amazing vistas since I met him. We’ve continued to bike in many beautiful places across CO, UT, NV, and CA. We’ve been able to keep our interactions with others small, outdoors, and generally on bikes.  I finished my first 100 mile ride.

He had a catastrophic road bike crash in August 2021 – C1 vertebra smashed, emergency neurosurgery to fuse C2 to his skull, a few days on the ventilator in the ICU, and then finally home. I have never been more scared. ICU wards during the COVID pandemic were not optimal. Unlike 99% of others –  my miracle man is walking, cognitively normal, and biking again on a 3 wheel recumbent fat bike and on the bike trainer inside.

I now have almost  100% clarity on what I value and have been minimizing pretty much everything else. This year’s number one thing was taking my most important person for his birthday to meet my brother and his wife in Maui. It was amazing to see my family after a few years of lockdown. This was post accident, so we didn’t get to bike up Haleakala (10,068 ft up over 35 miles  one way). I’m secretly, well I guess now, not so secretly, relieved about not biking Haleakala or “Mr. Steepy!” over on the north west short. Next time, because there will be a next time, and he’ll hopefully have the freedom from his neurosurgeon to do it!

I’m not writing so much here at www.catherinekunst.com, but I’m active on Strava if you want to connect there.

I hope you and yours are staying healthy &  thriving in this ever changing world. With Love, Catherine