As I often do, I write half blogs and get distracted and forget about them. This was written at the end of 2025, reflecting on the year and seasons of change. I haven’t been writing as much lately, and that’s simply because I’ve been out living my life, in the best way. So I present to you my year end reflection, two months late, embellished and tweaked by the experiences of the first two months of 2026.

What a wild year to reflect on. I settled into Austin and life as Cerby’s mom. It has been such a huge joy watching his confidence grow and his silliness and playfulness come out. It’s crazy to think that last January, he was having such bad separation anxiety while I was gone, and all he wanted was more friends and a window to look out of. I love that he’s such a simple, friendly man. 

A huge part of wanting to move home was wanting to be more present with my family. It has been so nice to have them nearby to try all my snacks and tell me they’re delicious. I have made intentional trips to spend time with my extended family members, in a way that is truly meaningful since I have been effectively estranged most of my adult life. Ironically enough, most of these visits have centered around puzzles. The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree.

In January, I celebrated one year at my job. I have been able to learn so much about coffee and I truly love this industry and what I do. I find so much fulfillment in serving drinks to my community. It’s in sharing moments of everyday life with people, learning names and finding those connection points. Would you believe that most of my regulars love puzzles?? I have somehow created my own personal puzzle swap, where people bring puzzles out of excitement and abundance.

I created so many things this last year and I feel very proud of my creative endeavors. I feel like I’ve learned so many tangible skills, from mending/ altering clothes to growing a garden. It’s so sad that depression is constantly trying to take these little joys from me and I feel like I have to fight to live the life I want to live. It’s the maddening dichotomy of feeling healed by a good home cooked meal, but struggling to have an appetite most days.

Sometimes change and growth is small in the moment, but all it takes is building momentum. Per the invitation of a sweet friend, I started going to mobility yoga classes. Each week, I leave craving more movement and strength and then I sit on my ass for the rest of the week. It’s more than I did to move my body before, so I am proud of the small start and am excited to eventually feel strong and capable and less crackly. This is the current seed that I am nurturing and being gentle with.

I spent most of these past two months doing a lot of puzzling, a lot of showing up for my community, and just being generally cozy. I absolutely crushed my puzzle comp (my endless practicing paid off) and have found a community that I am so thrilled to be a part of and share with others. If you can believe it, I caught up on One Piece. 1,173 chapters from the end of July to February. A man's dream will never die! I have nurtured so many sweet parts of myself and I am starting to reap the benefits of that. I am so excited about the relationships I’ve built here in Austin, the relationships that continue to grow in San Diego and all over.

I'm so proud to write updates that show progress towards my goals and intentions that I lay out for myself. It feels weird to have achieved one of my big goals for this year by the first week of February, but I just never stopped to overthink it, I simply went after it. Now I can put competitive speed puzzling on my survivor resume.

Keep dreaming,

Ken and Cerb