Dog Days of Summer

21-07-2025 Dog Days of Summer – Making the most of every moment.

              Its been a month since I finished my successful thru hike of the East Coast Trail. Time is so funny, each day feels incredibly short, yet the ECT already feels like a lifetime ago. There's been road trips, my first race (more on that on another post) and endless daily adventure! I feel confident in myself for doing what I said I would, now all I can think of is “What next?”. I’m just getting started! I have a lifetime of incredible adventures ahead of me and won’t stop pushing until I’ve accomplished everything I said I would. So much has happened! William and I continue to put in the work to develop a strong foundation for a lifetime of memories. Each day we push each other to reach our goals – our weeks are packed with adventure, discipline, and spontaneous fun. We are both aware of the value in finding a partner who you can train with, grow with, and explore the world with.

Spirit and William bond on the trail with Zach catching some Zzzs. Its so great to have people to love the summer with.

As we navigate an accelerated timeline we each take great care to respect and learn about one another. We surround ourselves with friends, the intention being that by letting our relationship live publicly and socially, we create supportive environments. Getting to make memories with so many friends and our families only adds to the experience – we both get to be ourselves and share our time together while bolstering community connection. We are both committed to living this one awesome, short, and beautiful life.

              To foster respect we take the time to do the things we each need to be ourselves. For me that means focused study sessions, solo dates with Spirit wandering around the city, and committing to my hobbies. Oh and a major development: I booked my plane ticket to Germany! On October 9^th I will fly from Toronto to Munich to complete my mission. I said I was going to learn German and go to Munich on exchange. Here I am a year later with tickets booked acceptance letter received and funding confirmed. I'll be a teaching assistant in the languages department to earn an income and will likely be a live-in support worker to reduce the cost of rent. Besides that, I have been networking with trainers in Germany with the hopes of running some lessons or workshops while I'm there. I am so proud of myself!

I look forward to all the amazing adventures ahead of me. A new city, new language, new friends, and a tutoring position at the university. Not to mention my loyal Spirit dog at my side. I also think it will strengthen my relationship with William. Having the space to miss him while developing so many personal strengths will allow me to return to our relationship with more confidence, certainty, and focused vision. We already have a lot of that, but I believe that challenges make us stronger. He plans to visit me while I’m over there – It’s going to be so much fun.

Its hard to believe its been a year since my first trip to Germany. I learned so much about myself and look forward to what the universe has in store for me this time.

              I’ve also booked my plane tickets for my cross Canada adventure! I am so excited to introduce someone into my life. The opportunity to bring William home to meet my family is something I’ve dreamed about for a long time. I have a whole trip planned to bring him to Toronto, the cottage, Montreal, Vancouver, and Squamish. We have a 5-day backpacking trip planned with my sister, a camping trip with my dad, and several small road trips planned in the last 3 weeks of summer. We have agility days, trail runs, and so many friends to meet – I can hardly wait!. While my family is not perfect, I have no doubt that William will handle it with grace and without judgement. We will both make the best of each moment. He introduced me to his circle and its been the best - I want to do the same. I hope he loves it as much as I do. We may even sign up for a race or two as we travel to keep us accountable to our training plans. We have rock climbing, backpacking, kayaking, strength training, biking, and running to do. I hope Copper likes him too. I love my family so much and I hope William grows to love them too.

I love these goofy goobers so much, I can't wait to introduce everyone.

              These days are full of fun. Almost every day I find myself swimming in a lake or hiking in the forest. Spirit and I continue to make new memories each day. William and I strength train 4-5 days a week and have started developing a climbing regiment. For now, our main goals include showing up. This morning, we jumped out of bed at 5:45am sharp and hit the trails. It was not a perfect trail run, but we showed up ! I had moments where I spoke negatively to myself or felt not-strong-enough, but I worked through those mental blocks and gave it my best effort. Most importantly, we recognized this single effort as just that – one effort to begin a long life of continued, sustained, focused effort.

These days are filled with endless adventure, I'm so grateful for this life.

We will show up at the gym and climb again tonight, and as we keep showing up our training plan will become more precise, more tailored, and more effective. You don’t need perfect performance to show up, but you need to show up to work towards a ‘perfect’ performance. These days are precious. I am constantly engaged in meaningful projects. I truly feel like all my dreams are coming true. Even my brand is starting to become clearer. Again, its not all perfect, but each day I show up and take action towards the things I care about with faith that its all coming together beautifully.

I'm not sure what direction 'Spirited Canines' will take as I travel, but I trust the process and that somehow it will all come together.

              Spirit hasn’t slowed down, I truly believe she is in her peak. Maybe she isn’t as intense as she was at 2, but every day she keeps up – whether we are biking across the city, running 5k, 10k, or more, hiking all day, or spending hours at the beach. She enjoys it all with her usual happy disposition. We are so lucky to spend our time swimming, going out for ice-cream, and surrounding ourselves with friends who love and support us. I am so thankful for this life. It did not happen easily. I had to put in the work to become the person who does these things with joy. Each day I got to choose who I wanted to be and those small choices amounted to a life of freedom; freedom from fear and freedom to take on the day with optimism and dedication. It feels like we have gotten to live a thousand lifetimes together, I’m sure we will live a thousand more. God love her. After all, this is our life, only we get to dream it up for us. With the hearts of the truest believers,

-          Julia, Spirit, and Our Loved Ones.