Every chance I had to be outside as a kid, I took it. I dreamed of hearing animals speak, adventuring to far-off places, and living harmoniously "out there."

Around age four was the first experiences that I remember of intuitive understanding. But I was a timid kid and didn't expand on things like seeing my cat's passing before it happened or viewing an alternative timeline for concern that something about it was misguided.

Music was central for many years, which was good for my Pisces heart because it funneled focus and discipline into my processes. At the same time, I began to explore energy fields more. Sadly, again, an awesome experience with a homemade button-pendulum freaked me out and I shelved the discoveries for years.

I earned a Bachelor's Degree in Conservation Biology from Arizona State University. Admittedly, I struggled a bit with college. I craved some equity between the scientific and the etheric, and felt enlivened when working in the field.

To have more hands-on contact with wildlife, I volunteered at the Phoenix Zoo and spent a morning or two every week caring for the Galapagos and Aldabra Tortoises. Lining up all seven of them for a "family" salad as visitors observed was pretty delightful, too!

Due to a memory that hit me suddenly one day at age 18, I used a new-fangled internet program named "Google" and searched "light coming from hands." This led me to Reiki and, by the end of the year, I earned my Reiki Master-Teacher certification.

From the Arizona desert to the Florida Everglades, I chased biology field work and the remote adventures that came with it. I loved this time because of the work and the inevitable stories. The research and management was interesting and impactful.

Over and over again, my hands-on connection with wildlife and remote wild places deepened my love of the natural world. The power, beauty, and wildness left me in awe and pushed my comfort boundaries.

Despite enjoying my work, something was missing. I wanted to make a difference in a different way. A continuous search began.

The opportunity to work in the outdoor industry with kayak sales and assistant guiding came with Sweetwater Kayaks when I lived in Florida. A piece fell into my search puzzle when I realized that I craved connection with both people and nature.

Shortly after in 2007, the pull to head out unattached to much won and a van was acquired, simplistically built-out, and everything else was put in storage. I don't want to say this 6-month van life time changed everything, but I definitely came back changed. Wildlife interactions, visions, dreams, and deep healing work were a catalyst for a new phase of life.

From here, I searched for shamanic mentors and had success - some positive, some shadowy, all necessary on the journey. And the realization that, on an environmental note, it wasn't the planet that "needs to be saved," it is the humans who need to connect and adjust.

Once a rockhound, always a rockhound! As a kid, my family regularly gave me different stones and crystals for birthdays and holidays - these are still in my collection today. While I'd studied a variety of crystal healing books, I resonated with "Love is in the Earth," by Melody, and became a "Master of Crystology."

All of this inspired me to earn certificates in Life Coaching and Spiritual Coaching from the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, which included 200 hours of client sessions. I opened the door the Nature Coaching in 2008. Focused on leading clients by going outside and connecting with nature for the answers they sought, they also came away with a renewed skill of learning nature's language!

In 2010, as if right on cue with my Saturn Return, life went through a major transformation, the biggest of which was being present during the last six months of my dad's life and his passing. This was hard, beautiful, miraculous, and shaped so much more of my personal understanding about life and the death process. And it left me spinning in the aftermath of those huge changes.

I met my partner, Matt, when I least expected it. Truly, I was "over" the dating game and was applying to field jobs in the most remote places I saw listings for - the Outer Banks sounded good. His invitation included kayaking and the rest is history. (Photo: Josh Beecher Photography)

I fell in with a roving gang of spiritual women who created the Killa Wasi Foundation - specifically the Bouquet of Light. They were on a seven-year (annual) journey to study Andean wisdom and medicine. I joined them and became a mesa carrier, diving farther into my personal shamanic practice and gaining life-long friends and teachers in the process.

My physical commitment to completing the full seven-year Andean shamanism journey was cut short: this is Eric! He decided it was a fantastic time to come along and he's enriched our lives and adventures endlessly.

Eric has a diagnosis that makes him a very unique and awesome kiddo. When I say we've learned a lot from this unfolding, it's impossible to express how much and how much more remains. We are allies to all and support autism acceptance!

Not long after that diagnosis, we decided that we were given an opportunity to live unscripted. There was no guidebook to life, after all. We sold our landscaping and lawn care business, bought an RV, and chose to explore, expose, and road school our way through a couple of years.

An old sailboat named Moon Dragon crossed our path and the adventures with Eric continued in a new way. Sailing is a delight and challenge for me. This was a new personal avenue of stripping away unseen mental-emotional-spiritual comforts and building renewed self-understanding with nature as the teacher. Hint: sometimes she's patient and kind, other times not so much.

This all brought us to create Keyword Adventure, LLC: this is a website, blog, podcast, and video platform used to give resources, instruction, inspiration, and community that focuses on outdoor family adventure lifestyles. www.keywordadventure.com

Writing has always been central to how I feel fulfilled. There are books waiting in the wings, blogs spilling over, and much more! Check out "Projects" to see what's lined up and I'd love it if you'd subscribe to my newsletter so we can celebrate together when I finally publish a book!

The common thread through it all is human relationship with this incredible planet we live on. The adventures may shift and change, but the Earth we live on is with us the entire way as a partner. I wish to share that every day enchantment as it plays out around us and helps us grow as spiritual beings.