Hi, I’m Lisa Hill, co-founder of RUDGER. My story with RUDGER starts a little later than Brett’s in more ways than one. I happen to be his younger sister, and like many other aspects of our relationship, he was the one who first had the dream of what he wanted RUDGER to be and invited me to join him. Brett has always been one of my best friends since childhood, and I know I am fortunate to have an older brother who has always invited me along on his adventures! What older brother brings his baby sister along with him everywhere?! Mine did and is still doing it to this day! That’s the kind of amazing person he is. Starting a company with him that involves inspiring people to get outside is a dream come true for me!

My earliest memories of being outside were at Brett and I’s childhood home. As young children, we would play in the backyard, making mudpies, digging holes in the garden, and filling them up with water to swim in. We would catch butterflies, garden snakes, grasshoppers, and all manner of various bugs to keep in jars. We played tag, blew bubbles, ran through the sprinklers, drank out of the hose, drew pictures with mud, and practiced our cartwheels. We would make giant leaf piles to jump into in the fall, and in the winter, we would build giant snowmen, pull each other around the yard on sleds, and make little “houses.” These were just a few short snow walls we built by packing snow. Our “houses” had small paths (in our minds, roads) connecting them, and we would play pretend, bringing all manner of toys out to fill up our houses. This aspect, I’m sure, frustrated my parents when they would find wet, dirty toys that were forgotten outside in the spring. Early childhood was filled with daily wonder and exploration of my backyard.

As I got a little older, I was gifted a bike for Christmas. This became my freedom, making my world a little bigger. Brett and I, with the rest of our siblings, zoomed around the neighborhood, made jumps for our bikes (that never really worked), played in the canal and streams, doorbell-ditched our neighbors, climbed trees, slurped on popsicles in the heat, slept on the trampoline underneath the stars and got up to mischief that all pre-teens tend to do! 

As a teenager, Brett had access to a car. Occasionally, he and his friends (me as a tag-along) would go to the grocery store, buy the big blocks of ice, take them to a giant hill covered in grass, sit on the ice, and zoom down at top speeds! I’m honestly surprised no broken bones came from those excursions. We came home wet, laughing, and bruised. 

When I was with my friends, we would find every reason to leave the house because, like every teen, I thought my parents were uncool and embarrassing. We would play night games, hang out at the park, or just lay in the driveway on a blanket, talking and searching for shooting stars. We won’t talk about other things I did as a teen; amazingly, we made it through those years alive.

However, as an adult, when it comes to the outdoors, I now realize how cool my parents actually were and how lucky I was. They would take us camping and water skiing in the summer and snowboarding in the winter. Brett and I, as teenagers, once cleaned my mother’s entire house in the middle of the night so that she would let us skip school to go snowboarding. Surprisingly, it worked! She called the school to say we wouldn’t be coming, she drove us up the mountain, we had a great day, and she picked us up in the evening! We were cold and tired from staying up all night and then snowboarding all day, but we were filled with that kind of happiness that only comes from spending a day enjoying the outdoors! 

I have joy-filled memories of being out on the lake in the summer with my family. My mother would pack a cooler full of food, and my dad would spend hours towing us around on a tube. He would drive in circles to create large waves, which would always throw us off! I don’t think there was ever anyone he couldn’t throw off the tube. We even got our dog out on the tube as well!  As we got older, kneeboards, wakeboards, and skis were added to the mix of activities. There were plenty of bumps and bruises, but it’s amazing how some injuries hurt less when you get them through doing something fun outside.

 I recall one particular time when the boat broke down in the middle of the lake. The situation must have been annoying and stressful for my father since he spent several hours trying to fix the issue enough just to get the boat back to shore.  But as a pre-teen, I had so much faith that my dad could fix anything that my siblings and I spent those few hours jumping and diving off the boat into the water without a care in the world! We came home looking like lobsters and had a painful next few days, but in my mind, it was all worth it.

The times my parents took us camping in my youth is what, more than anything else, gave me an appreciation for being out in nature.  Nothing else truly rejuvenates my soul more than sitting around a campfire, out in the woods, underneath the stars, looking up at the Milky Way, and just being with the people I love. It has always been a place for deep thoughts, conversations, laughter, crying, singing, and healing. Not to mention the hotdogs smores and tinfoil dinners. Food just tastes better when cooked over a fire! I will be forever grateful to my parents for passing on their love of being outdoors by giving me experiences and memories that will last my whole life.

As an adult, I have started to appreciate the amount of time I could spend running around outside as a child more and more.  Life has gotten busy. Responsibilities have taken over, and more and more stress has seeped into my life.  However, my favorite moments in this busy adult world have been when I take my kids to the park, throw rocks in the river, take a walk with a friend, or just sit by any body of water and listen to the wind. When possible, I try to get out further into nature with my family because it’s easier to let the stress of life melt away. 

I suppose my point in telling you all this was to let you know why I love the outdoors and, by extension, why I’m joining my big brother to create RUDGER. First and foremost, I believe in my brother and his vision of making quality products that inspire people to spend time outdoors. Second, working with Brett while learning and growing simultaneously brings me joy! Third, getting outside can create some of the happiest memories life has to offer, and everyone is searching for more happiness in their lives. I want to be a small part of something that puts joy out in the world.  And finally, I want to help inspire you to get some fresh air in whatever form you wish because nature truly is magical. It will rejuvenate your soul and give you energy for life when you feel it is lacking.  Living in this world is hard. No one gets out of it unscathed. Nature can heal wounds that nothing else can. It can listen without judgment while you talk, sit with you when you need to cry, and lift your soul when it is down. Start with stepping out your door. Take a moment to take several deep breaths of fresh air and see if that doesn’t make you feel even a tiny bit better.