High Tide

“Every one of us is called upon, probably many times, to start a new life. A frightening diagnosis, a marriage, a move, loss of a job……

And onward full tilt we go, pitched and wrecked and absurdly resolute, driven in spite of everything to make good on a new shore.
To be hopeful, to embrace one possibility after another – that is surely the basic instinct.
Crying out: High Tide!
Time to move out into the glorious debris. Time to take this life for what it is.”

By Barbara Kingsolver from High Tide in Tucson

For me, that was last year. It is hard to imagine a year more filled with new beginnings. Leo and I were married, brought together our children (2 each) to create our version of the blended family, settled in Denver, and started Patheos. For us, it was a crazy and exciting time of change and a complete decision to re-work our life as we crossed into our 40s. Having both left secure executive positions with technology companies, and deciding to try to do something significant and different with the rest of our lives, more than a few of our friends and family looked at us and thought we had lost our minds. The decline of the financial markets and the downturn in the economy only made our decision to start something new look even more suspect. Add to all that the fact that we were going to launch a site related to religion and spirituality and you can imagine the thoughts of those around us.

Still, we are driven by the ultimate goal of really doing something that matters. To create something of value for people who are seeking, who are hurting, who are thinking and trying to find their way. To elevate the conversation and get people talking about the most important topic around. And ultimately, to illuminate our similarities as well as our differences and to help us understand one another. There is so much good to be done.

This is the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done. And each day, I am grateful for the folks that surround us……from our team that has weathered the really hard part of this startup venture, to the members of our family that have loved us and supported us (even the ones who still think we are crazy!).
And there is nowhere that I would rather be than here – digging this new life and driven, in spite of everything, to make good on a new shore.

– Cathie