Reflections – The Salty Exchange

The Salty Exchange: One Year Anniversary!

June 3, 2021by thesaltyexchangeLeave a Comment

From Shari:

The Salty Exchange is more than just a blog. It’s a connection to myself, Kendall, friends, family and anyone who reads or benefits from something we’ve shared. To be honest, my weekly connection to Kendall has been one of the things I look forward to most in my week. Especially coming off of a year where connection is what most people lost. I can argue that through this process of creating TSE, we’ve gained it (connection). I’m grateful for the people who have taken the time to read our words. For those who have reached out to let me know how much something we wrote resonated with them, and those who have also supported us on social media we thank you.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked a question by a friend that can be answered by simply sharing a blog post with them. For example, I have shared my hiking essentials list with so many people that I have lost count. That said, I know we are far from “influencer status” or having the biggest following but that doesn’t matter to me. What matters is that the blog remains a creative outlet and something Kendall and I enjoy doing. A blog focused on friendship, collaboration, humor, and sass. I am proud of all we have accomplished in the last year. Our posts on grief and shame, our reflections from important moments in our lives, and our fun seasonal posts have kept The Salty Exchange interesting and dynamic.

In the next year you can anticipate us diving deeper, keeping it relatable, and ultimately staying salty!

Keep reading for Kendall’s reflections…

From Kendall:

Creating The Salty Exchange has been a soul food project. It has kept me grounded, thinking, and connecting. At first, I was a bit nervous about the expectations of TSE. Were we trying to get rich? Become famous? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding NO. In fact, being famous totally freaks me out. Attention = Kendall being awkward. What Shari and I set out to do was to create something that made us laugh, maybe made our friends laugh, and allowed us to explore the many topics floating around in our brains with each other.

Throughout this past year, my weekly chats with Shari have been lifesaving. It’s been the best intentional time. We have always been honest about our lives and thus, the expectations of TSE. We have two completely different lives but at the same time, we share an incredible amount of overlap. Her friendship has meant the world to me.

Since our launch last June, we have been super excited at how often our blogs resonate with friends and family. We may not get a ton of “likes” or comments but the amount of DMs and texts we get have let us know that what we are doing is appreciated; that at times the things we write about actually help people. Dude, that’s cool.

So thank you- thanks for hanging around. Keep hanging around- we have more to share! Stay salty, my friends!

Kendall’s Reflections on Moving Back to the USA

May 14, 2021by thesaltyexchangeLeave a Comment

This Saturday, May 15th, marks our two year anniversary of returning to the United States. Leaving the place where we started our marriage, birthed our baby, and had our first home was, in a word, heartbreaking. I miss that part of our life. Spain became my home in a way that I never expected. The people, places, food, and, in some cases, smells became ingrained in my life and heart very quickly. My spanish was not great but it wasn’t terrible either. I adapted. I knew I had “made” it when I had to take myself to the ER while my fluent spanish-speaking husband was TDY in Norway. “I got through that? I got this whole living abroad thing down.” (My exact thoughts hailing a cab down to go home from the ER). Anyways, it was and is home. Moving there centered me. I feel like I really started to live who I had always wanted to be while I was there.

Kendall’s side yard in Spain at sunset- the most beautiful time of the day.

During our time in Valencia, I very much settled into myself. I realized a lot- both good and bad. That’s what happens when you don’t have work, family, or a ton of friends around; reflection. I spent the first six months processing the past few years of my then life. What became apparent to me was that I was broken. My heart had been broken quite a few times (sometimes intentionally and sometimes not). I had broken people’s hearts. I had hurt friends. Friends had hurt me. My mom had died and I had barely processed it because I was so busy caring for my father and people I worked for more than I was caring for myself. Some of that was indeed intentional as a deflection and some of it was just life. Regardless, I had not properly grieved. So I spent the first few quiet months grieving my mom. Hard? Oh yeah. Needed? Hell yes. Not just for me but for the sake of my marriage and the eventual path to motherhood I would choose to take. Had I not gone to Spain and left my world behind, I probably would have made very different life choices. Instead, with the support and love of my husband, I began to mend myself.

Spain also taught me to appreciate GOOD food. Affordable and good food. It also gave me an even greater appreciation for wine. And gin. And apertifs. And olives. The list goes on. The way people live in Spain is much different than the US. People seem happier there. And to be fair, the people I knew were! They also laughed at our introductions… “Hi! I am Kendall. I am from Seattle. I work in advertising. What do you do?” Yeah, that’s not a thing. No one really cares about your profession. It’s not your biggest identity marker. Rather, an introduction would look something like this, “Hi there! How are you? Oh good. Would you like some coffee or wine? Tell me about your shoes. How has your day been? Would you like a tapa? Oh and what’s your name?” I liked that. It was simple. Plus, European architecture just kicks our American architecture’s butt. OK? I miss street dining, iron rails, bell towers and chimes, cafe con leche, and, even though it took me about 8 months to adapt to, a 10pm dinner.

Fast forward to today. Vermont is sort of an amazing place to land. And super underrated. It reminds me of Spain in terms of life being simple since we don’t have any true center of hustle and bustle to speak of. Vermonters like their winter sports, cheese, brews, and farmers markets. These are all things I can get behind. I love the beauty of this state. I appreciate their desire for smaller and local chain stores as opposed to big ones. It’s a wonderful place to have started our family together (stateside) and to have ridden out the horrors of the pandemic. And still, Issy and I have never been more sure about returning to Spain. To live.

And we will. I am not entirely sure when (retirement and potentially sooner). It’s the place I want to belong to. I love my country and am very proud to be an American. But a little part of me became a Valenciana… and I have every intention of returning home whenever I can. COVID has made that a bit tricky, but, dearest Spain, I will see you soon. Until then- hasta luego.

May 15th, 2019- Madrid. Coming home with our many pieces of luggage, baby, dog, stroller, and basically everything to live out of for 5 months.

Shari’s Reflections on Her Wedding Day (One Year Later!)

May 14, 2021by thesaltyexchangeLeave a Comment

May 16th, 2020, our wedding day; a day that looked nothing like we planned but was more than we could have ever imagined. It may sound cliche but our hearts overflowed as our friends, family, and vendors rallied to make our day so extremely special. Our wedding was considered a micro-wedding due to the pandemic and gathering restrictions. The 150 person guest list quickly went down to just 10 of our immediate family (not counting a few vendors).

Our newly revamped, small wedding only took a few hours and was simple and stress-free. It included the first look, a sweet intimate ceremony, our first dance, cake cutting (and eating), and a lot of pictures.

In an effort to still celebrate with our extended family and loved ones we had a drive-thru receiving line following the intimate ceremony. For an hour we stood outside our venue and received love and congratulations from 50 cars. All together it was about 150 friends, coworkers, and family that were still able to be a part of our special day! Our hearts exploded seeing that so many of our loved ones were holding up signs, had decorated their cars, and cruised through to wish us a “Happy Wedding Day!”

Despite the change of plans, our wedding day was efficient, unique, and perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing.

If you want to see a glimpse into our special day, grab a tissue and enjoy our wedding video…

Shari: Travel Reflections

March 5, 2021March 5, 2021by thesaltyexchangeLeave a Comment

In 2020 I was set to have the best travel year of my life. Obviously it didn’t happen… however, I would like to reflect on the life-changing trip I snuck in just before the pandemic and how extremely grateful I am that I got to experience another country before COVID struck.

In September of 2019, I went with a group of my coworkers to Guatemala with an organization called Medical Teams International (MTI). I had never traveled very far outside the country except to bordering countries. Canada hardly counts since the maple leaf country is in my backyard. Traveling to a distant place isn’t new to me though… I’ve traveled to Hawaii several times, taken a week-long family cruise to Alaska and even a small two-night cruise to Mexico but nothing fully prepared me for my week-long trip to Guatemala.

The culture, the food, the cars, the countryside, the people…it was so much to take in.

My expectations weren’t elaborate. I wasn’t expecting a desert wasteland, nor was I expecting ancient ruins, or a tropical jungle. Guatemala felt surprisingly similar to home. Instead of the PNW dome-shaped snow capped mountains, the mountains there were pointy, hot, and active. Exactly what I imagined a volcano to look like. Guatemala’s countryside was decorated with lakes, beautiful valleys, and green lush forests. The landscape had so much depth and variety.

Our tour of Guatemala (mainly by bus) from Guatemala City, to Chicaman, to the village where we worked- San Sebastian Beleju, to Antigua, and back to Guatemala City. I couldn’t get enough of the views and the hillside village where we spent the majority of our time. We were there to partner with local MTI staff to install latrines and hand washing stations alongside some of the village contractors. Although our work was physically demanding and took a decent amount of time and focus; we were able to install a total of 20 latrines, benefiting 20 different families in the village.

They showed their appreciation by giving us a welcome ceremony, offering us food when we were in their homes, and at the end of the week in the village we received hugs and a few more verbal exchanges; we tried really hard to learn some of their language throughout the week. It was the most rewarding experience because we got to feel welcomed and loved by people so far away from our own home. We were able to experience firsthand their joy, their livelihoods, their homes, their food, and a glimpse into their beautiful Guatemalan culture.

My team left the trip feeling nothing but gratitude for the gift of travel. We were able to play tourists for a few days of the trip but the most special time was in the village immersing ourselves into another culture and way of living. It put our face-paced American lives into perspective and left us craving another opportunity to explore this glorious and diverse planet. Again, I am so thankful I was able to do this trip before the world shut down, before travel became limited to none, and my canceled trips became my new reality.

I haven’t lost hope for my next adventure and I hope, someday, to visit Guatemala again.

Where are you eager to travel? Have you ever been to Guatemala?