This is my second and final letter written as a citizen of Los Angeles. If all goes according to plan, I should begin hiking the Pacific Crest trail at the US/Mexican border in April of next year and be back in Seattle by early October. The next eight months will be both exhilarating and filled with anxiety. I will be exploring that topic more in the future. Instead, I would like to use this annual letter to reflect on my time in the City of Angels.

Despite the challenges, I will never regret choosing to move to LA. I wanted something bigger for my life. I needed new opportunities. I had to shake things up. Over the course of two years, I did all that and more. Los Angeles allowed me to spread my nonprofit wings and get a better sense of how other organizations are operated. While the work of Skid Row Housing Trust has been the most challenging of my life and I won’t walk away from here filled with the same emotions that came to define my time at Kent Youth and Family Services, I will leave here a better leader and with a better sense of who I am. This work has also afforded me an opportunity to get my financial house in order. For the first time in my life, I am saving and planning for the future. It took a long time to get here, but I am immensely proud of myself.

This financial stability has opened the door to something I have wanted to do for a long time; hike the Pacific Crest Trail. For almost two years now, I have been planning, saving, researching, and strategizing. Every week, I achieve some small victory that will allow me to undertake this journey and with the passing of each new day, I get closer to being able to walk away from it all for a while to pursue a dream of mine. I know not everyone is afforded this opportunity, so you better believe I am counting my lucky stars. Once again, I can’t help but feel a sense of pride.

These two years have also strengthened my relationships. True friends are revealed by time and distance. With this in mind, I count myself one of the luckiest men in the world. Being in LA, I have added new members to my support group; people I will cling to forever and ever. No matter where I roam, I have made friends in LA that will always be there.

My relationship with my partner, Brandon, has reached levels I never imagined. The stress of moving and the transition wasn’t easy on either of us. It was particularly hard on Brandon. Yet, through it all, we learned to depend on each other. I honestly believe surviving this experience has made us a stronger couple. If we can survive this experience, there is nothing we cannot do together.

While I dearly miss Seattle and cannot wait to call it home again, a small part of me will be sad to walk away from Los Angeles. My life has been a constant battle between what is expected of me and what I want for myself. More often than not, I have found myself stuck with few options and unsure what to do next. Dramatic changes in my life have afforded me escape. Seattle, Los Angeles, the Pacific Crest Trail all share this idea of a restart in common. Yet, it is Los Angeles that revealed what is important to me. I want healthy relationships, an impactful nonprofit career, financial security, and the ability to forever chase my dreams. So, LA, I don’t look back in regret. You did exactly what you were supposed to do and for that, I am forever grateful.

Be good to each other,

Nathan

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