It’s been 18 years since I posted about the disbelief of me and coworkers in Illinois upon hearing that a light snow and ice event in Portland, Ore. led to the temporary emergency closure of our office there.

I thought about that post today while my daughter and I walked our three dogs in beautiful 63-degree weather in Arizona. My wife earlier today told me that friends in Illinois were bracing for a cold snap that was punishing a wide swath of the United States.

These were the same friends who questioned our decision to move last summer to Arizona and endure temperatures that regularly exceeded 100 degrees.

Life is about choices, and every choice comes with consequences and requires adjustments. People endure consequences of their decisions where to live and work—including the thousands impacted recently by the California wildfires.

I still make choices regarding work, family life, faith and personal challenges. The choices have narrowed and become easier to discern over decades of living and commitments I have made. But every year brings new choices that stretch me.

This blog and its predecessors have allowed me to trace the journey that life and my choices put before me. I don’t document that journey often enough, but like a gorgeous, sunny January day, I feel grateful when opportunity and creativity come together to birth another post.