Are You Adventurous?

I’ve been pondering how adventurous I am lately. I’ve had my moments, but they weren’t big ones and a lot of them occurred when I was younger. When I see those lists on social media that are about have you done these things, I usually score pretty high. Trust me, I wish I didn’t have to mark yes to: have you been in an ambulance.

Most of my adventures are things like seeing a sign for the Ozarks and deciding on a whim to go for a couple of days instead of back to college to study. Or deciding at midnight that it was a good idea to drive ninety miles to go have breakfast at an IHop. We made it within thirty miles when one person in the car decided they had to get back for a seven-thirty class so we turned around. (The person fell asleep and didn’t go to her class!)  

Me in the Ozarks in college

I’ve never been one for thrill rides. The Tilt-a-Whirl is too much for me. Although, I made an exception to go on a Rock-O-Plane ride at the county fair because a cute boy asked me to in ninth grade. And I did finally (in my fifties) go on a roller coaster that did one loop. I went on it twice and trust me, that was more than enough. Looping is not for me.

I went hitchhiking once with two friends in the small college town where I went to college. The guy who picked us up was from a small town fourteen miles from our hometown. He drove us approximately a mile. (Sorry, mom!)

I’ve ridden on motorcycles, gone on long road trips with friends, moved to a lot of places I didn’t want to, and have survived hurricanes, tornados, floods, and earthquakes. Most of it kicking and muttering under my breath instead of screaming. The moves all ended in meeting the most wonderful people.

Getting published was a big adventure. You have to psych yourself up for a lot of rejection from agents and publishers. I had years of rejections before Tagged for Death hit the shelves ten years ago. You have to prepare yourself for the bad reviews and the people who write to tell you there was a comma out of place on page 126. (But those are balanced by all the good notes and reviews!)

So why am I rambling on about this? Because if all has gone as planned, I’m currently on the Gold Coast of Australia at an Ultimate Frisbee World Championship tournament. Wait – you went all the way to Australia for Ultimate Frisbee? No. We were planning to go to see our friend Christine and her sons this summer.  One of her sons just happened to have a tournament so why not go?! We’ve watched him play for the last two years here in the States. And, if all has gone well, we’ve already been to Perth and taken a train across Australia back to Sydney.

Readers: Are you adventurous? Do you have a favorite adventure? Update: below are a few pictures from our trip.