First of all, I don't have this life thing figured out. I guess we're all just bumbling around from one season to the next, managing the best we can. Perhaps I tend to bumble around more than most. I decided to write 7 years ago, just after I finished college and moved away. So here I am, a little beyond fashionably late, with my first blog post.
The day that I decided to write, I was sitting on a cliff watching the sunset over the Caribbean Sea. My toes were sandy, I had just finished another day of "work" in the the tropical paradise of a private island in the Bahamas. My home at the time consisted of a small white boat named Sea Story. She was anchored in a quiet harbor that also served as residence to a playful little family of dolphins. I had fresh papaya for breakfast every morning, nursed injured birds and sea turtles back to health during the day, and embarked upon some grand seafaring adventure every afternoon.
I was surrounded by beauty, living the life of adventure that I had always dreamed about, and I was leaving on the next flight.
In that fleeting moment, everything made sense. It was as if I suddenly understood what really matters. The greatest adventures don't always appear so grand and glorious at first glance. I have learned that people matter more than location. That love really is the most powerful force on earth. And that sharing life with someone else is more beautiful than the most breathtaking sunset at sea.
The day I said goodbye to living the life I always thought I wanted to live, I met the life I was meant to live. It's significantly less glamorous. Far more creativity is required when embarking upon adventures worthy of storytelling. And those "little moments" that I previously might have brushed off as insignificant are filled with the greatest joy.
Watching my 10-month-old adventurer crawl toward the waves as he saw the ocean for the first time, even though most of the trip was spent in an endless effort of attempting to keep him from eating all the sand on the beach... Walking hand-in-hand though the forest (which is really a small preserve of green + river + nature in the city) with my husband, dreaming and scheming because our current grand adventure is Mission: Baby Must Learn to Sleep. Because we are getting to the point where the earth just might stop spinning if baby does not sleep... Watering, weeding, pouring love into the backyard garden that will inevitably eventually burn to a crisp because Summer in Texas is brutal. But seeing those wildflowers on the table in a mason jar makes everything worth it. These are the little adventures. These are the moments that make up this wonderful, devastating, inspiring, uncertain, beautiful life. I hope that you will join me in the journey as we embrace the art of little adventures.
No comments:
Post a Comment