Have you ever realized, only after it was too late, that a person was one of the most important ones in your life? Have you ever found something life-changing somewhere you never thought to look?

This episode is a story Jess has been sitting with for almost five years. Not because it isn't important — but because she didn't yet have the language for what it changed in her. It's about a $20-a-night RV park in Las Vegas with flickering streetlights, nightly helicopter noise, and a check-cashing place on the corner. It's about two strangers who saw Jess's husband eating alone at a picnic table and pulled up a chair. And it's about what happened — years later — when Jess texted to check in and didn't hear back.

Tony and Linda Oyster started as RV neighbors. They became family. And the lesson they left behind quietly reframes everything: the places we go, the milestones we chase, the next thing we're always running toward.

In This Episode

Jess shares the story of Tony and Linda — and why, after three years on the road visiting some of the most breathtaking places in the country, a worn-down Las Vegas RV park is still her honest answer to "what was your favorite stop?" She also offers four small, practical ways to find more meaning inside the life you already have — no big life overhaul required. Because most of the time, meaning doesn't show up at a mountaintop. It shows up in who you're sitting next to.

4 Ways to Practice Intentional Presence

1. Slow your exits. Linger in conversations that matter. Ask one more question — and go one sentence deeper than "how are you?"
2. Treat people like the destination. Outcomes are easy to chase. Relationships are the whole point.
3. Notice who makes you feel more like yourself. Not more impressive. Not more productive. Just more you. Spend more time there.
4. Remember: ambition and presence aren't opposites. You can want more and appreciate what's right in front of you.

Resources & Links

• 🎙️ Making It with Jess Ekstrom: Subscribe + leave a review wherever you listen
• 📸 Follow Jess on Instagram: @jessekstrom

Produced by Making It with Jess Ekstrom

🪑 Soulful Sidebar: What If the Destination Was Never the Point?

We optimize for places, titles, and milestones. We take the mountaintop photo. We check the box. But Tony and Linda — who spent 15 years on the road, slides and all — weren't remembered for where they went. They were remembered for how they showed up beside a stranger eating alone at a picnic table.

The question worth sitting with: In five years, what will the people around you remember about this season? Not what you accomplished. How you showed up. Who you made time for. Whether you put the phone down.

That's the whole thing. That's making it.