Hello Wintermoon Community,

Oh, there’s always so much to share and not much time to do it. But I could not let this day pass without touching base with you all. It was today, right at Spring Equinox two years ago, when we had to say goodbye to Kathleen.

I always miss her, but this time of year holds extra layers of feelings after her passing. I think back on all the years she’d push the mushing season, if there was a little stretch of icy slush on the trails, it was enough for one more run. Oh, the hours many of us spent shoveling snow from the woods onto the trail. The last runs of the year resembling waterskiing as much as dogsledding!

She’d tap the maple trees. She’d talk of the garden, the garlic, how soon the rhubarb would be coming up. It does my heart such good to hear Soph saying and doing much the same—the last dog runs, tapping the trees, imagining a garden in her new space. Kathleen’s memory is well kept in Soph’s hands.

I’m grateful for this community that holds all of this. It gives me great comfort to know that Kathleen’s strength, her spirit, and her stories live on in all of us.

I hope you find a little time today to pause, to feel Kathleen’s presence, and to celebrate the goodness in the world that we find in one another. A favorite quote of mine these days comes from Marilyn Turkovich with the Charter for Compassion:

“Kindness has not evaporated. It simply does not trend as easily as outrage”

With Peace, Love, and the Boundless enthusiasm and solidarity of sled dogs…

—Chris