Adventures come in all sizes; big and small and everything in between. Some are self-created, and some are the product of things beyond your control. And some never seemed to happen at all. Even when they really did.
We are asked all the time about the adventures that we have experienced so far. But sometimes, it’s hard to feel like we have actually had any adventures at all. We’ve traveled through more than a dozen states, driven more than 10,000 miles, and have been to more national and state parks than I can count.
But so much of the United States feels like it is bubble-wrapped and homogenized. In between each moment of contrast and excitement — “Look, Old Faithful is erupting!” — there seems to be another glimpse of sameness — “Look, another Starbucks!”
And this has led me to feel like perhaps we haven’t had any adventures at all. “Perhaps we will only have any when we leave the country,” I sometimes wonder. I guess that’s not so bad; we head to Asia next month. But it does make you kind of shrug a little bit about three months of traveling across the country looking for adventure and feeling like you haven’t found any.
And then this morning—in one further step towards preparing for our trip overseas—we started transitioning from one day pack to another, and my youngest son emptied out his old bag. When I went to double-check, I found one hidden pocket that was full of little rocks and gems from all across the country and some tufts of buffalo hair.
Looking at that pile of treasures and listening to my six-year-old explain one by one where each of them had come from, I couldn’t help but feel like we had, in fact, had some adventures. He told us what each of them meant and what type of rock or gemstone he thought it was and looking at the buffalo hair I got a little bit verklempt.
Needless to say, I had my tear ducts ceremonially removed on my thirteenth birthday; but if I were able to cry maybe, just maybe I would have gotten a little misty-eyed.
And maybe, just maybe all of this has been an extraordinary, adventurous, and formative experience for these three children whom I love ever so much.
well i gushed out tears on your behalf dear!
and just the other evening on the lawn next to the potomac river in georgetown with friends and champagne, we watched little miss sunshine. great movie… but what it was about more than anything else is the love of being 6 and the world at that age being all adventure and new and unsullied by our own expectations. we label something with “sameness” and we fail to give ourselves the chance to see the secret clan of majong players that use that starbucks as a hang out or the secret society of dairy queen going musicians of kansas or maybe other funny and unique ways that each “same” place is inhabited differently… don’t know where i am going with this… but maybe just to reinforce that indeed adventure is where you find it… and it may be more subtle than we expected… so let’s unburden from expectations and marvel at the marvelous of it all – ah and if we could only be 6 again? thank you friends for your continual gifts from the road!!!! close to my heart!!!xoxox