Home

I have been home in my art studio in New York for exactly a week and it feels, well comforting and a little bit weird. The last few years I have been traveling more and more to the point where I now spend more time on the road than I do at home. I will be home in New York this year for 2 1/2 months to be exact. To me travel has aways been exhilerating and a big part of what molds me as the creative artist that i am. Without new adventures, different landscapes, cultures and people I would undoubtedly get bored. Personally I feel that everyone no matter age, race, gender or background should take at least some small portion of time out of their daily lives to just go explore. Whether it be a new state, new country or even just a different restaurant down the road. These experiences broaden our minds and make us see that as unique and different everyone is and places can be, in the end we all have common ground to stand on.

This is the first time in 3 years that I have spent home working and living in my space in New York for the month of August and not on the road. That being said I see it as a blessing and a challenge to take a place I once became so familiar with ( my studio and New York have been my home for 9 years) and to see it in a different perspective since I have been gone. At the same time, there is a small piece of my heart that is yearning to be out on the road. Part of me feels that spending so few moments at "home" make it harder and harder for me to be comfortable there because I am afraid if I like it too much it'll hinder me from having that spark to travel. Yet, coinciding with the main themes from my upcoming book "Ashe in Wanderland", my "home" just like my career is always a work in progress. Something that is every changing and after many years of fighting that change finally I have come to love, accept and embrace it.

So in the theme of embracing change and growth, a lot has happened in my week home. Sadly I saw lay to rest not only an amazing film camera that has helped me through good and bad times, but unfortunately a close friend from the North Country. I was reintroduced to my love for all things paddling and my ever growing whitewater family. I received yet another gracious gift from an old and wise photography friend to help keep my passion for film alive. And also watched my Nikon D3 DSLR pro camera body be shipped off for auction to be soon replaced by the Nikon D810, helping me grow and learn more professionally in this digital age.

As the dust settles and all these changes occur whether great or small, I wake up every morning and think, "Don't ever stop moving forward. Because once you do, that is when your true passion for life and art will die." So I take a moment every day home or away to sit back and meditate on how blessed I am and I far I have come to find my place amongst the chaos around me. For now I am "home" enjoying quieter, slower paced activities with friends and family and that's okay because even if deep down I am dreaming of paddling class V rapids in Chile or indulging in rockstar BMX road trips, it's these calmer times that truly round out the person I have become and want to be. So raise your glass, "Here's to rockstar shenanigans & afternoon siesta's in a hammock." It's all life experience and it's all relevant.