Things have changed a lot this year. For the better. I know—I say that every year. But this time feels different.
After my miscarriage last year, followed by a hospital stay for my exploding gallbladder (dramatic, but that’s what it felt like), something shifted. I decided I couldn’t keep moving through life in the same way. I needed to make changes, but more importantly, the changes had to come in a different way. I have known changes were needed for awhile (this blog is proof of that) but everytime I tried, I would give up.
So in the first week of this year, I challenged myself to find “Something Important” each week—something to photograph, research, then share.
Eleven weeks later, it’s become one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done for myself in a long time. Ad unexpectedly, it’s sparked something bigger: a deep love for research and history.
I’ve always had a tendency to hyperfixate.
Sometimes it’s practical—like learning how to change an electrical outlet. Other times… note so much—like researching which composting toilet I’d need for a hypothetical school bus conversion I will never actually own.
But this year, I’ve been channeling that energy into history and it’s been incredible.
Week one was the Ute Council Tree in Delta, Colorado.
It’s a place I had visited before, but this time if felt important to share. What remains is a beautiful tree stump that once served as a sacred meeting place for the Ute People. The tree stood for over a century, until it needed to be removed due to instability. From what I found, the removal didn’t sit well with the community—but thankfully, cuttings were taken so the tree could live on in a new way.
When I posted about it on TikTok, the response surprised me. People cared.
It made me feel validated. Like maybe this wasn’t a waste of time. Like maybe I could use social media for something meaningful.
So I kept going.
Week two is where everything really clicked.
I struggled at first. I couldn’t find anything that felt important or interesting. I stayed up late, scrolling through Google Maps, searching for any landmarks that might stand out.
It was after multiple nights of this that I finally gave in and started researching the Atomic Legacy Cabin that I kept seeing. I had ignored it initially because it didn’t pique my interest. But as I neared the end of my trip on the Western Slope, I had started to get desperate. So the dig for details began.
Little did I know that Grand Junction has a history with the Manhattan Project and a secret mine. They apparently had supplied Uranium to the United States for the development of the first nuclear weapons. I was mind-blown at that point. I was hooked.
The next morning, I dragged my mom and kid to the free museum. It was so worth it. I loved every second.
I learned that day that anything could be interesting. You just needed to take the time to learn about it.
Since then, I haven’t stopped.
Alongside this project, I’ve been planning a solo trip across Colorado—three and a half days packed with as many historical sites as I can fit in. In the meantime, I’ve bought more books that I can realistically read for the trip. I’m trying to get as many details as possible in my brain about what I will be visiting and seeing. Every page, detail and story feels like it’s building into something bigger.
Something worth learning and something worth sharing.
My goal is to document it al and post what I find on YouTube. I want to encourage others to take the time. Remember. Learn. Grow.
There are interesting stories everywhere; you just have to be willing to look for them.
Ash Thoreau 
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