This summer has been full of milestones and change. Recently, Hawk’s Heart, the final book in my Stranger Creatures series was released into the world. Also, I’m in the process of moving, so chaos and cardboard boxes are both increasing on a daily basis. And in the midst of all this, I celebrated my half-century birthday.

Fifty feels simultaneously old and very young. I still have a lot to learn and there are so many things I have yet to do and experience. I have definitely not lived the life or achieved many of the goals my quarter-of-a-century-old self planned for me 25 years ago. The regret is overshadowed by how liberating it is to no longer allow myself to be bound by old dreams.

Life lessons have dragged me through a haunted forest of the unknown and changed the innocent, hopeful, idealist I once was into someone tougher, smarter, and far more empathetic. I’m curious to see what the journey through the next half century will bring and what I will bring to it. One thing I have learned, but still have to remind myself to actually do, is to stop occasionally, even during the chaos, to be still, so I can process the sheer agony and beauty (not to mention the strangeness) of it all.

Image description – a photo of a tan, wild rabbit pausing in a patch of grass beside an azalea bush