The question I am most often asked is, “how long have you been doing this?” Without skipping a beat, it is always promptly followed with, “why?”

Four years ago today, I lost my Dad. That was the end and the beginning of everything.

Prior to his unplanned departure, I had never even thought about the idea of a bucket list. If anything I felt like an outsider in my own state. I spent most of my time trying to find a way out. My dad loved it here – every blade of grass, pinecone, peeling of birch bark, grain of sand. I never understood his fixation. I could never fathom why he thought that coffee tastes better when you use lake water.

After we lost him, the world felt different. Colors seemed brighter, days seemed shorter, I loved deeper and more aggressively than I ever have.

What started as a way for me to stay connected to him has become a way that I am now connected to you. Falling in love with Minnesota became inevitable.

He was right all along.

Four years later, I get it.