The Trail Doesn’t End Here

Some friendships and mentors walk with us for only part of the trail. Then, somewhere along the way, they step off, and we’re left to carry on with a little more wisdom… and a little more weight in our heart.

I think about my dad, Mike, and Steve often. I see them in the woods and in the boardroom, in the quiet discipline of preparing gear or preparing for a presentation, in the way I listen more than I speak now. I hear them in my own voice when I offer advice to someone younger, or in the silence I allow when there are no easy answers.

Losing them created a space in me—not empty, but sacred. A space where their influence lives, where their words still land, and where I find strength when mine runs out. The grief is real, but so is the gratitude.

We carry those we’ve loved and learned from—not as burdens, but as ballast.

They keep us steady when the winds rise. They remind us what matters. They show us that the trail never really ends—it just changes. And we keep walking, honoring them not by holding on too tightly, but by living fully and offering what they gave to us.

Life Lesson #6: You don’t move on from loss—you move forward with it.

And if you’re lucky, it deepens your capacity for love, for presence, and for the kind of friendships that last long after the trail fades.