If I had to summarize the year 2024 in one word, it would be depth.
I started the year in Brooklyn with my best friend, talking through difficult eventualities that await us. In the middle of winter, I explored connecting to my inner self at The Feels, and then joining it to another, to great reward and healing.
In spring, I traveled to California and reconnected with friends and family. The immensity of that landscape, and the warmth of those people, were palpable.
Having my parents here reminds me of the gentleness and grandeur of my ancestry. We spent time talking to people about my grandfather’s legacy, which revealed to me so much more of the man he was. My subsequent travels in India during the summer reaffirmed that, while also reminding me of the great lengths of humility and hospitality that people will go to.
In the fall, as I traveled between climate and water conferences, I faced the breadth of the many ecological challenges before us. I met the many men and women, of all ages and backgrounds, working to solve them. I also fell in love with photography, fascinated by its many aspects, apertures, exposures, and perspectives.
At the end of the year, after deepening our relationship for years, I reached a breakthrough to love, finding an intimacy that I long thought impossible.
Depth, not height, because these are discoveries, not inventions. Things that were always there, just unknown to me. Dulled by distance, distraction, disorder, and delirium. Disclosed by dedication, determination, diligence, and destiny.