Here's to Adventures

In 1992 my mom took me to Costa Rica. It was just the two of us on the trip - she took each of my siblings and I on a trip that she called our "6th grade adventure" - and what an adventure it was. I have so many strong memories from that trip - the cloud forest, volcano, running away from an angry bull when we took the wrong path on a hike, the gecko in the bathroom sink, the Russian surplus DC3 that seemed barely safe to fly in, butterflies, beaches, random discussions she struck up with strangers, and so much more. I am convinced the trip shaped my fascination with the tropics but also that it had a fundamental impact on my understanding of the world and our place in it.

The past few weeks I've been obsessing a little about where I'm going to take the big kiddo this year on her own 6th grade adventure. And I have to admit that while I'm so excited, I also feel a little trepidation about traveling alone with her in a place unfamiliar to me. But I keep thinking back to 1992 and what I learned from that trip with mom. I have no idea if she was nervous or not, what I saw was a woman who looked confident trying something totally new, relishing in the adventure of it all, rolling with the twists and turns.

And I think the beauty of aging is that I've come to realize that those trips were probably as much about my mom's desire to travel and explore new places as they were about her goal to show us kids something about the world.

As I sit today thinking of mom on her birthday, it occurred to me that I'll be the same age she was on our trip in 1992 when the big kiddo and I go on our adventure later this school year. I wish I could ask her advice on planning the trip, but I imagine she'd tell me it's something I need to figure out on my own. Perhaps that's part of the adventure for me too.

So happy birthday mom.

Here's to the adventures past and present.

Here's to the memories we carry and the new ones we'll make.

Here's to 6th grade and mid-40's and those gone too soon.

Here's to slowing down and exploring while also not wasting one minute on this planet.

Thanks for the example you set.

[Photo from our approximately 20th grade adventure during my PhD]