Survival Fires. Don't worry too much about fire safety... it's pretty safe in the Sound.

Did you know that the ability to build a fire and maintain it, is important to the survival of mankind?...

In Utah, I gave myself so many never’s and can't’s, it is no wonder I felt I so stuck. I didn’t allow myself room to breathe. Maybe I just wasn’t living the kind of life I wanted so I found it difficult to picture a future there, much less create one. I was there physically, but emotionally I was absent... absent of life. I was tired and empty, kind of like one of those metal fire pits up in the Uintahs that has a couple of old stick-probed soda cans, half shriveled styrofoam cups, and charred s'more sticks, all leftover from last season. It had obviously seen some better days and been the center of a lot of great stories, steaks and mallows, but for now it was just kind of there and forgotten. I wasn’t living my own life, which made the distance between myself, and my goals and dreams seem an empty canyon. I needed to build a grand and raging fire.

You know when you're camping and you collect the best pile of wood ever, and make the perfect boy-scout firewood teepee that would make cowboys light their last cigarette? Then someone comes along and throws some fire starter on it and you are like, “oh…ok, that works too”. That’s kind of how my move worked out. I couldn’t just make some solid, well thought out changes in my life; I doused myself in fire-starter and up and moved to a completely different state. The thing is, it was exactly what I needed.

So here I am in Seattle, the ‘Emerald City’, where possibilities are endless and dreams do come true. I am not sure if it is the change of scenery, or my attitude that has changed, or maybe a combination of both, but finally... I can breathe! I am filled with so much hope and faith, can’s and will-do’s, that I feel like I am actually living again! Living, breathing, and moving towards the greater good. I am blessed with being able to make such a change in my life. Furthermore I am very blessed with such wonderful family and supportive friends, and I mean really wonderful; some of them are extraordinary people. My life is good, real good, and it is going to be great. I am going to have an extraordinary life.