Lily’s Back from 22 Days in The Sea Of Cortez!

My 16 year old just got back from her 22-day expedition!  Strapped with a carry on and a sleeping bag, she set sail with 9 other teens and 3 instructors courtesy of The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).  (She’s wearing the purple jacket in the middle.)  Every night brought a new beach.  Every day was a lesson in sailing, communication, leadership and survival.

I had no idea how much I’d miss my unruly teen…

Lily has been with me everyday since the day I started ThePeopleChemist.com.

That was 16 years ago.

Her growing up has sped by, yet I feel like I’ve been waiting forever to see the amazing woman she’s become.

Only one year old, mom was busy working at a hair salon.  I had just quit my career as a bench chemist.  For the next four years, Lily and I did everything together.

I jogged and she sat patiently in her stroller….we made fun of the Coke trucks delivering diabetes…we made trips to visit mom for milk and we wrestled endlessly in the afternoon, pretending that we had escaped Earth and were taking over a new planet.

Always focused, caring and driven, she was our business baby.  Never one to waste time on mindless claptrap, Lily was born taking action.  Aware and confident, her sharpness assured us she’d be a natural leader.

Late afternoon, mom would come home and I’d write my book and business plan.  Evening was reserved for FREE fitness assessments at the local gym.  And on the rare occasion that Lily got sick, I’d come home early to stay up with her.  We’d breath Vicks and sip Sleepy Time tea.  I’d assure her that she’d get better, no matter the discomfort.  Her tiny embrace assured me that she felt safe and we’d get better together.

22 days was longer than I imagined…

Picking her up, we were reunited but it felt like we had never left each other.

Lily was back to her truest self.

She had been stripped of the societal norms that place undue pressure on teens.  She walked light and had that endemic confidence we all love about her.

In a world suffering from experience poverty, she experienced her place in the world, rather than learn about it online.  Her keen senses had come back to life.

Driving home, she reminisced on not missing her bed.  She reminded me that she didn’t even have a tent, just a sleeping bag, and the “Patagonia coat you bought me was my pillow.”

The open sky and stars became her favorite bedroom.

“The sunrise was my alarm clock, and I actually woke up!”

…and she spoke proudly about her 24-hour solo, night swim and capsize drill.

“High school is even more lame, now,” she warned…

I get it.  “You’re more independent…”

Mission accomplished.  She was bolstered by life experience and wowed by the world around her rather than succumbing to the shiny, dull fiction created by Google, fake news and online trolls.

The same thing is true in health.  Being healthy is all about being independent and taking charge.  This was the theme in my book, Over-The-Counter Natural Cures Expanded.  I introduced nutrient logic, which proves that outside of an emergency, a nutrient rich body is it’s own best healer.