Hello all,

It’s been a little over a month since my 2016 soul-searching road trip through Colorado and Nebraska, and since that time I’ve accepted the wisdom gained from that trip and made some major life changes.  I left the job that wasn’t giving me true passion, and I’ve started laying groundwork towards building a career out of the things I love and want to do on a day-to-day basis.  Doing this has been one of the most difficult things I have ever done in life.  I’m now living on savings and faith rather than a stable income, but at the same time I feel in my heart that I am working towards something bigger than myself, and that all of this will be worth it in the end.

So what is my passion?  It’s to teach and inspire the next generation, and to lay the groundwork that will shape the future of Northern California.  I’ll be heading down to Chico State this fall to get a teaching credential in mathematics, with the aim of teaching high school level math here in my hometown of Red Bluff.  I’m also helping coach Red Bluff High School’s cross country team, and I hope to use my legal background to help the School’s students form a mock trial team.  However, my aim isn’t only to work at the high school level, and I’m ecstatic to report that along with taking classes, I will be lecturing at Chico State starting in the fall.  For now, I’m only teaching Business Writing and Communications, but I’m hoping to expand the University’s course offerings to teach subjects I’m passionate about – including courses in law and economics, and banking and monetary policy.  Finally, to the extent I have time, I’m noticing a new courthouse has been erected here in Tehama County, and in the aim of bringing our County into the 21st Century, I’m hoping to enter into communications with the Court to see whether I can help it create a tentative ruling system akin to what I experienced at Shasta County during my time as a research attorney for the Shasta County Superior Court.  There is a lot of opportunity up here, and I have no idea yet what is going to work and what is not going to work, but it’s exciting to work from the perspective of forging my own jobs and building a career out of what I want to do during my days on this planet, rather than simply submitting to what’s being offered.  I guess that’s what the American Dream is all about, and I’m hoping to prove that it’s still alive and well in this country.

All of that being said, Murphy’s Law of changing careers remains…law, and things have not been easy since leaving my job.  On the life front, my dad’s good friend and neighbor, Bob Kerstiens, passed away and the news has been difficult for my family to process, as Bob was an exemplary citizen, firefighter, cowboy, and war hero, a person who fought hard for his community and what’s best in the world.  He was respected by all, his funeral was attended by everyone from Republican Senators, to European business leaders, CalFire brass, to immigrants grateful for the jobs he helped them achieve, and it’s difficult to imagine what life’s going to be like now without him around.  You may read his obituary here to see just how amazing and influential this man was here in the North State.

On the personal finances front, the modern educational world has so far proven to be a massive bureaucracy, and as I try to comply with District and University requirements, I have been flooded in paperwork, tests, and expenses.  There is so much to do (most of it unexpected), it has become a seven-day-a-week, full-time job trying to keep up with all the regulation, but instead of making money while doing the work, all I’ve been doing is spending money.  On top of that, I’ve developed a nasty case of tendonitis that has made it difficult to help with the cross country team, and, oh yeah, my air conditioner to my house decided to break down last week.  After a measly three weeks away from my old job, I’m already falling out of budget, a scary thought.  Having finished what is hopefully the last CSET math exam last Friday (a fun test covering Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry), I decided it was time to tear through the tendonitis scar tissue and escape the stress of life for a while by going on my annual pilgrimage to the summit of Mt. Lassen.

While last year I hiked with family, this year’s climb I did by myself, though I was not alone on the mountain and there was no way of escaping the tourists.  Apparently this is Lassen National Park’s 100th anniversary, and somehow (mostly Bay Area) tourists know about this and are flocking up to the park in droves.  The summit climb was very crowded, and at times I felt like I was just walking in a long line to the top of the mountain rather than hiking.  Nevertheless, moments of seclusion were possible, and the views helped me escape the mundane anxiety that accompanies personal finances and refocus on the meaning of life and what I’m trying to achieve.  Rarified air and the feeling of standing on top of the world remain the best tools I know of for communing with God’s earth.

A final treat of this year’s climb was that it happened to be timed at the same time as the migration of the tortoiseshell butterfly, a smaller cousin of the monarch.  Hundreds upon hundreds of these creatures flurried about the mountain, their wings looking like fire-orange leaves in the cold summit breeze.  They were fascinating to watch, though admittedly a bit difficult to capture through the lens of a camera.

As I came down from the mountain, I again felt recharged, ready to tackle the next set of challenges in life.  The climb tore through the scar tissue and helped strengthen my legs, and I am now anxious to get back to the grindstone and back to laying foundation for what I pray will be a bright future.  Failure is possible in this endeavor, but through the zealous advocacy for what I’m passionate about, I’m hopeful that it can be overcome.  And if failure does occur, an adage comes to mind: Never stop exploring.

Cheers,

Rob