I don’t know if I’ll write a full-tilt year-in-review or not this year. It’s 2020. What’s the point? Everyone knows what happened, for better or for worse (mostly for worse) at this point, so I might just hit on a couple of bullet points personally.

The Good:

• I got to go to Florida and play on the beach
• I got a new horse
• We finished our first ride together in over 4 years
• I got my own trailer

The Bad:

• My turtle of 28 years (and my longest-running and oldest pet), died
• My grandmother died
• Riding plans for the vast majority of the year went completely awry and off the rails (catch-ride Atti went lame, spring/summer ride season was non-existent, late summer/early fall riding was limited due to air quality from all the wildfires, schedule conflicts happened)

I’m kind of surprised I managed to keep at “at least one post a month” blog streak still going over the course of this year, but I did. And of course Facebook and Instagram for some more day-to-day insights.

So, without any further adieu, I present some of my favorite memes of 2020. Some made me laugh, some made me nod in agreement, and others made me go, “huh.” There’s snark, there’s humor, there’s eye-rolling, there are uncomfortable truths. This is just a selection of them that were applicable to my outlook and mental state at some point over the year. At least, the “fit for public consumption” ones.

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I’m not naive or idealistic enough to think that the clocks magically clicking over to 2021 will make all the bad currently swirling around go away. But I am optimistic enough to keep clinging to a little bit of hope that it might.

Right now, I don’t really have any goals for 2021…well, I do, but I’m waiting for a little bit to toss them into the ether, because they have the potential to be lofty, so I’m practicing a bit of “holding my counsel” until I have a better idea of if they are realistically attainable.

First up on the slate, though, is something I am super excited about: Liberty and I will be participating in a “Jim and Mark Show” clinic — aka, a Mark Rashid and Jim Masterson collaborative clinic being held in Phoenix in January. I can’t think of a better way to start the year…an “eyes on the ground” riding session with a clinician whom I have long followed, and a bodywork session with the man himself of my bodywork certification program. (Jim also worked with the US Endurance Team for a number of years, so he is familiar with the sport.)

It’s the same weekend as the Tonto Twist ride, but these collab clinics usually only happen a few times a year, and this is the first one to come to Phoenix, so it was an opportunity I absolutely couldn’t miss.

Arizona is shaping up to have a good ride season so far in 2021, with a ride within the state scheduled (or tentatively scheduled) for every month except May-June-July. (And that could change, I’ve not heard if the Flagstaff Monsoon Fever ride will be back this year or not…if it is, that’s usually June.) We’ve even got a 100-miler on the books to wrap up the season at the Lead-Follow @ McDowell ride. (Talk about a great end-of-season goal, and good timing for “structure your ride season to lead up to a 100.” And McDowell is a good move-up ride for anyone looking for that first 100.)

As a founding member and one of the “behind the scenes” planners, I can say that the AZ Endurance Riders Club has some big plans in the works for this year, starting up our clinics and learning events, with something on the calendar every month through June at this point, with more to come.

So this could end up having the potential to be a really good year…especially if the final meme below has any bearing or truth to it…

But maybe, just to be safe…