In this latest episode featuring Heather and her 21-year-old daughter, Emma, life transitions — facing them, going through them, learning from them — is the focus. And if there’s ever been a time when life changes take center stage, it’s these past couple of years as we’ve all endured so much, personally and professionally, as a result of the pandemic.
Emma shares big news at the start of this episode, and how where she’s at now and what’s ahead is the culmination of a lot of hard work, dedication … and, yes, stress and self-reflection. She shares how she traversed this time of her life and the things she’s learned about herself.
Emma asks some interesting and personal questions of her mom, and Heather responds with stories that touch on becoming a mom, the role of creativity and work along this journey of raising three kids, and the generational differences Emma and Heather are observing as Emma enters her early 20s and begins thinking about her future plans.
They wrap up the show by sharing a letter from a listener, and encourage the comments and feedback to keep on coming. What life transition are you experiencing right now? How are you navigating the ups and downs of this time? How does running and movement help you? We’d love to hear from you. Email your thoughts, or record a voice memo, and send to heather@michiganrunnergirl.com
“At first it was hard because I felt like I was in this snowglobe that had been shaken up. And all of a sudden I had space, and then all the snowflakes were falling around me, and I was like, there’s that thing I ignored for six months, and there’s that thing I don’t want to think about because it stresses me out. But the more I was out there, the more the snowflakes, the glitter, settled and the better I felt. And that, I think, is just a testament to how important it is to make space in this life to think about things, or to process things, to just breathe. Because we don’t get it naturally in our lives. You have to be very intentional about that.”
Paige Lackey returns to the MRG show to talk about her 5-month-long adventure exploring Michigan’s state forest campgrounds — this solo trip took Paige (and her dog Willow) to more than 75 Michigan Department of Natural Resources locations in both the lower and upper peninsulas between April and September. Project Rustic, as it was named, was an effort to collect information for the state’s Recreation Search database.
Paige previously was a guest on the show (episode #213) just before leaving on this trip. During that conversation, she talked about coming up with this idea as a Huron Pines AmeriCorps service member serving with the Michigan DNR, and how it all came to fruition. In this most recent episode, Paige is honest about what it truly was like to travel alone with Willow in an RV, the places she got to see and know, the people she met along the way, the highlights and challenges, and how the experience changed her. Her quote of the summer, she shares during her conversation with Heather: “What will be, will be transformative.”