For me, 2025 was a year of water in drought. As the reservoirs in my watershed stagnated at historic lows, I ventured with loved ones to dozens of waterfalls that scintillate over basalt cliffs in high deserts and thread temperate rainforest islands alike.

Visiting Latvia from the Next Life

“Maybe you’ve walked through a ghost town before, or remember the eerie empty streets at the beginning of COVID lockdowns. Neither feeling quite reaches that of traveling through a ghost country. But rather than sensing you’re surrounded by ghosts, you realize that in many ways your return makes you one.”