“Have you ever looked back and been glad your prayers weren’t answered because the path you took led to something far better? Wasp Spirit is a reminder to reflect on those times, for today’s sting may hurt, but something better awaits you.”⁠

This blog post is long past due. Just over a month after volunteering at the Ness Creek Music Festival, I embarked on another first, heading across the line to do some off-grid camping in, and around, Glacier National Park in Montana before making my way to my brother Len’s in British Columbia via Sandpoint, Idaho. Overall, the trip was pretty amazing with beautiful weather, scenic roads, and lots of time to breathe.

Things took a bit of a turn once I got back to Canada when I got not one, but four wasp stings . . . two of which landed me in hospital emergency rooms (one in Creston and one back in Regina). Remembering that Colette Baron Reid’s Animal Spirit oracle deck had a Wasp Spirit card, I just had to look it up. Was the universe trying to tell me something? What was the message that I seemed to be missing?

September 2023 brought some pretty big changes to my life, changes that I neither wanted, nor welcomed. Adjusting to those changes and my new reality has consumed the better part of the last year. As the one year anniversary approached, Wasp Spirit’s message couldn’t have come at a better time.

As for progress on my 55 in 55 list . . . my trip saw me visit some towns that I had never been in and drive so many roads that were new to me, including a bucket list drive on the Going-to-the-Sun road in Glacier National Park. Overall, this summer has been one of lots of time spent walking the shoreline of Fishing Lake at the Kuroki Fish and Game Beach (no. 29), sunrises (no. 32), sunsets (no. 33), a few campfires (no. 43), and I even caught a couple of fish (no. 53)!