Life Is An Adventure

                I believe in adventure. I believe life is an adventure, which started the day I was born and will continue until the day I die. I did not realize until lately that I had this belief, but I now know it has directed my path throughout my life.

                Since an adventure is any experience or activity that is unusual and exciting, mortality offers us countless opportunities to find such a quest. If we are willing to accept life’s interesting undertakings and have a positive attitude, we will find unlimited vistas and enjoy boundless experiences.  Each day brings adventure, whether it is reading a new book, going someplace different, meeting diverse people, or learning a fresh skill. Life is to be lived fully, getting out of it all that we can. It is a journey in search of greater experiences, knowledge, and relationships.

                When I was a child, my siblings and I would often go on little jaunts. Our exploits would usually take us into the sandy hills located just north of our farm. The usual object of our escapades was to find the elusive arrow head. We had the understanding that someone once found one in those hills, and we wanted to find some for ourselves. We were unsuccessful in our quest, but we did find lots of other treasures:  fascinating rocks, skeletons of small animals, snake skins, pieces of glass with beautiful colors, and other bits of rubbish dumped in the area.

                After I was married and had one very young daughter, my husband suggested that we move to Alaska. A fellow employee was moving to the Great Land and offered us a place to stay until my husband found work. The entire idea upset my sense of peace and tranquility! I pondered the notion for some time and then had to agree. Since he had dreamed for several years of living in Alaska, how could I deny his fantasy? I did, however, insist on staying put until our second child arrived a few months later. Several weeks after our daughter’s birth, we loaded our necessary household goods into our blue, 1970 Chevrolet pickup truck with its small camper and our thirteen-foot, well-worn camp trailer. We said goodbye to our families in late-August and headed north. We drove up the muddy Alaska Highway with our little girls, taking two weeks to make the trip due to the demands of our toddler. I left Utah with the idea that we would be in Alaska for a year and then return to move on with our lives. I fell in love with Alaska because of its charming people and magnificent scenery and stayed to make it my home.

                More than forty years later, I am the grandmother of seventeen delightful grandchildren and am embarking on another adventure – going to college. I did not plan to take this journey but am enjoying it immensely. I am bursting with a sense of great accomplishment because I finally learned how to do basic algebra last semester, and I currently find pleasure in stretching my abilities to share my thoughts through writing. I look forward to the coming years as I learn new skills, gain considerable knowledge, and make numerous friends. I expect that this undertaking will add abundant excitement to my remaining years, and I am grateful for my belief that life is an adventure!