In the nearly 20 years I’ve been telling other people’s stories though writing, I have met a lot of fascinating individuals. Some of these encounters have turned into long-time friendships, some I may never talk to again, either way meeting them changed my life, in some way, forever.

I’ve held off writing this letter for as long as I possibly could, and maybe that’s because once the last word is on the page, it means reality will have to set in. It’s a reality I had always thought of as happening in the distant future. Unfortunately, that distant future came to roost sooner than expected.

In early January, at the age of 64, my mother lost her courageous fight with a rare and aggressive bile duct cancer, Cholangiocarcinoma. Just eight short months after being diagnosed, she was gone.

I heard a talk by Reshma Saujani, best-selling author of Brave, Not Perfect, at a Chicago conference. She spoke of the societal pressure on girls to reach for perfection, and not just the beauty standards of photo- shopped women on the covers of magazines. But perfection in their everyday interactions. Boys are often encouraged to be brave, to climb to the top of the jungle gym, while girls are told to be careful. She cited a report that revealed men will apply for a job when they meet just 60 percent of the qualifications, however women will apply only when they meet 100 percent of the qualifications. Can’t fail if you don’t try.

“Are you sure we can’t help you with anything?” This is a question I often hear while busying myself in my kitchen preparing a meal for friends or family. The answer is always the same, “Nope, I got it. Enjoy yourself!”

I originally planned for this letter to reflect on safety in hunting, ruminating on anecdotes discussing the importance of always pointing your firearm in a safe position and wearing orange so you’re visible to other hunters out in the woods, even if the rule book says you don’t need to. (I’m talking to you, squirrel hunter decked out in face paint and camo silently hunkered down in the grouse woods, who appeared and vanished as quickly as an apparition, giving both me and my dog a start.)

But instead, I, like many others, find myself in self-isolation as part of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the wonderful things about the United States is the incredible access we all have to public lands, whether for hunting, fishing, hiking, or even as a place to sit and contemplate existence. Public lands are there for us to enjoy. We have the ability to travel to any state, grab a map and regulations book, and pretty much be on our way to a new hunting adventure. Technology and apps such as onX Hunt and Scout-N-Hunt are also great additions to any uplander’s tool belt, showing GPS boundaries for public and private land as well as potential habitat for upland game.

Do you hunt with ‘em?” This is a question I’ve gotten used to responding to over the years whenever I’m out and about with one of our bird dogs in a non-hunting scenario. The inquiry seems to pop up more often when I’m with just Oskar, our 100-pound Spinone. I guess people must be thrown off by his size because I get a lot of, “Can he even fit in a duck boat?”