December 2018
What are your significant memories from 2018?
David Sheffield
We got to move out of our RV, and it had been all five of us in an RV at Camper Village. We moved into our house in February, which was the first major significant event in 2018. It was very bare bones - there was no outside to the house really. It was wrapped and closed in and we had a temporary front door. We've made a lot of progress on the house and that's one of my most proudest memories of the year. Got all the kids consolidated into one school this year. That made life a lot easier for sure. And we added two new members to the family. We have two dogs now, so we've got seven of us in the house and the dogs are just awesome. I actually got over my childhood fear of dogs, so that's been significant. The other not-so-fond 2018 memory, of course, is the loss of dear friend and co-worker Jack Ward, and I know that I'll miss him and we all will forever. He was quite a guy. So we're working really hard to keep them keep him happy, wherever he is.
Mary Benavidez
The most significant is our son, Ollie's graduation from Crestone Charter School (CCS). CCS really enabled him to come into his own, the young man that he is and we’re really grateful for that. He’s an Ascent Scholar at Adams State University which means the DOE is paying for his first year. I'm very proud of that and how he struggled through attending college while in high school. He's graduating from college next year with his Associates Degree, which is really cool.
Also this year, we struggled finding permanent, affordable housing in Crestone after our rental house sold, but were able to find something in Moffat, which is wonderful. It's permanent and stable, which enables us to continue working at CCS and with Moffat School, and just being around the kids and loving that, so it's really great. And we have a choir now at CCS. It's a mixed choir of 12 middle and high school kids, and there's a magical dinner and concert coming up on December 8 and 9 at the school. I teach 4 mentorships: Sign Language, Latin I & II, Choir, and a Food and Nutrition class, which is geared to three young men who wanted to learn survivalist skills, quick things in the kitchen, etc., so that's a lot of fun.
Dean Lloyd, Multidisciplined Holistic Practitioner
Because I come from the perspective of health, I've recognized patterns going in unhealthy directions. We’d like to say this trend has changed, but it's gotten increasingly worse on multiple levels. There have been more issues with the opiate epidemic and introductions of diseases we haven't seen in years. For example, some of the immigrants are bringing in conditions like Chagas, which is a parasite this country's never really seen - it's the "kissing bug" disease. We're also seeing an influx of typhus and even tuberculosis. Americans are not accustomed to hearing about these conditions. We've had multiple issues with our culture being exposed to radiation, unclean food, etc. This is the year of the introduction of those types of diseases we haven't seen and we’re not equipped for. My job is to make sense and boost immune systems and prepare us for these things that are coming in a huge wave. We have to increase awareness before anything changes. You don't know how to get out of a trap ‘til you know you're in one! (laughing) I would like to continue educating, as I’ve been doing via my radio shows (evolvingthespecies.com), which is the work Dr. Rosen and I have been doing. We cover how to know your body and bring your immune system online and know what your weak links are. That's been the work I've been doing most recently, and also educating patients in my clinics here and in the Springs. Looking forward, there've been some remarkable developments in the field of endocrinology and hormone treatment. Now, anti-aging has made major leaps in that area. I've got the latest and greatest in terms of cellular regeneration in human growth hormone information and your body's ability to repair.
Lisa Rosen
Well, for me, obviously the campaign was a pretty significant memory. I'd run for School Board before but that doesn't require the same sort of door knocking, outreach and just straight up work that running for commissioner did. One thing I learned is that in a small county with so many different communities, folks aren't so much electing somebody to an office; they're sort of putting someone they trust in charge of things. And I don't think that I really truly understood the ramifications of that and how important it was to get people to really know and trust me. I went into it thinking, “I'm really smart, I've got great critical thinking skills, I'm going to put some plans together, put them out there and I'll win folks over by virtue of my intellect, my forward thinking.” And that's not really how it works in a community like this. I think that there is more fear about somebody who's new, different or challenging the status quo because this has happened before. People come into small communities, say they're going to change things and then they disappear when they don't get their way, so I think that was a really big learning for me.
Also, I attended the Rugby World Cup in San Francisco this year. It's the first time the U.S. has hosted it and being part of the rugby community for so many years, in particular Olympic rugby, it was really exciting to be there. Of course, that happened a week after we trapped a rabid bat in the bedroom, so before heading out there, my wife and I had to do our prophylaxis rabies shots, getting our last one in San Francisco on the way to the games.
Jeff Beard
2018 has been the further development of the building that we've been creating for the last 10 years. And now, thanks to Chris Stein of Craig electric, we have completed electrical and we're well on our way to getting the plumbing done, so it's going to be habitable. Prior to these new developments, I've been preoccupied with it, to the sacrifice of art. Now that this has gotten over the hump, I can give my attention to my art again, which I'm very excited about.
So that's what 2018 is basically about, other than the fact that I have a granddaughter. She was born last year, but she's at the point now where you can actually relate to her. She's not just this almost-inanimate thing, but actually interacts with you, and it's pretty fun. And I'm getting so much closer to no longer having a house payment, and that's exciting. That's it, I mean just getting back to the art I think is just wonderful, and I have all of these ideas and I can make them manifest. This has just been the jumping off the diving board into 2019!
Susan Reycroft
2018 has been a tumultuous year. All kinds of disasters and terrible things have occurred. But I also realize that a ton of amazing people have stepped up and come out of the shadows and pitched in and made a huge difference in how these disasters and traumas have been handled. So, my takeaway from this year is that there are tons of people in the world and most of them are amazingly good. I also got to do some extensive travel, which I hadn't expected, and got to spend a month in Australia with my daughter. I feel like even though it's been sort of a hard year, it’s actually really been filled with amazing gifts and treasures so I'm feeling good about it!
And I had some goals to learn some things this year and to get some things started in my life. One was photography, which Lori has graciously helped me with a tremendous amount. Another was to get my Clay Studio up and running and I now have two students and a third who's thinking about it. So I actually have this whole studio thing happening, and I don't know where it's going but it's doing something! (laughing) And I've started painting again, which I haven't done in a long time, so I’ve reached out to my old art self and I'm liking it!