Because I wasn’t able to pay for this trip all by myself, I feel as if I need to make sure it is worthwhile for other people, as well as me. How that will happen, I’m not sure.
Yesterday at the library, I checked out Anne Perry’s little novel, A Christmas Odyssey, for a quick read before leaving, and guess what I found on page 4, describing one of the characters:
“He was filled with energy of mind and spirit, an insatiable hunger for life that made other people think of new horizons, even resurrect old dreams.”
That’s me! I hope that someone who has been on the fence about doing something outrageous, will take courage and leap because of my example. If that’s you, I enthusiastically push you forward to the edge of the cliff, knowing that your own adventure will be life-changing!
Margie’s recent blog talked about the tiny golden plovers that winter in Hawaii then fly 4000 miles to summer in Alaska! How do they navigate? Margie had thought that the young ones follow the experienced older ones. Well, they do, but they don’t leave until the older ones are too far away to give any advice to the novices. Imagine! You are only a few months old, more used to walking than flying, and one day your mom and dad take off into the great blue sky over the great blue ocean, calling out, “See you in Alaska! You’ll know it when you get there!”
You look around at your fellow birdlets. All are as perplexed as you are, but then a few take a hesitant jump into the air. As the air currents hit the cliffs and carry them upwards, something happens. The land-preferring birds feel the call of high adventure. “Come on!” they call to their buddies below.
The others then find the courage to spread their wings and catch the wind.
What do they discover about themselves on this non-stop 4000 mile journey? I ponder this and have no answer when dealing with plovers, but for myself, I have a few answers. These are not the final ones. I expect more answers will come even years from now.
One of my daughters said, “It may not be until one of your granddaughters goes traveling on her own, that the impact of your adventures will be felt. She will write a three-generation book about us all, and it will bless many lives.”
I have decided to let go of fear. Well-meaning friends send messages of terrorists and crime, my dentist tells of his daughter being robbed twice in Paris. Everyone has a story. But Mary and I will be not be afraid. We will be wary, and alert, but not afraid.
Like Guy de Maupassant, I know that “it is the lives we encounter that make life worth living.” I am eager to joyfully encounter new lives of all kinds, all ages, all circumstances.
Just two more days before Mary and I will hoist our 17-lb backpacks and climb aboard British Airways. Au revoir! A bientot!
