Have you ever trod the lonely trail,
So many miles from home,
Have you ever walked among the hills,
In a land that was unknown,
Have you ever sat beside a fire at night,
That only God can see,
If not you haven’t lived my friend,
You can take these words from me,
Have you ever watched the northern lights,
When on the trail alone,
Or watched a lonely eagle sore,
when a thousand miles from home,
Have you ever heard a timber wolf,
howling out his woes
Or harked to a lonely loon
when he calls out from his home,
If you’ve never stopped
to hear stopped to hear these sounds
That means so much to me,
Then You haven’t really lived my friend,
And have so much more to see,
(author unknown)
Why are we drawn to stories?
Why are we drawn to stories, what do they tell us about ourselves? This year I am excited by this question, my core longs to tell a story, and through these stories of mine I have learned the lessens that have shaped, ... and saved my life. I am motivated to tell my real stories to share the joy of “being out there” or is it “the fun of adventure” or telling them so that others can “feel life filled with the trill of existence”. I often search for the “Moral” but maybe the moral of my stories are lessons just learned by me, "A lesson learned the hard way is a lesson learned Forever" ... So I hope to tell a new story each month this year, and all my stories have to do with out-door adventure lessons, or "3rd level Fun".
Fun Divided By 3
We’ve finally rated FUN, Fun divided by three, its a concept passed around camp fires, a concept that I’ve heard about for years. So basically it turns out, that there are only 3 types of fun.
Type I Fun
Type 1 this is fun fun, this is back country skiing on a powdery day, perfect hand jams in September in the desert, its 4 foot glassy waves at rin-com, Type 1 fun sounds like fun during the planning states, it’s going to be fun in the moment, and it provides at least a half hour of engaging conversation over a pint of beer. Sweet, We all like type 1 fun.
Type II Fun
Type 2 fun sounds like it’s going to be fun, but during the process there will be a moment you will curse the person who got you into it. It could be your partner, but more likely it will be you. Type 2 fun involves unexpected pieces of gear left in the car, pre-dawn starts to midnight finishes, and at least one string of expletives that would make your grandmother cry. It is pretty fun to talk about after the fact, you will be able to re-tell it at least a dozen times before your significant other muzzles you. Type 2 fun makes a pretty good story.
Type II Fun
Type 3 is the epic, the business, the da-da, it’s a guaranteed suffer fest, if you think that you can plan your way out of it you are delusional. If you want to succeed you will have to leave a little bit of yourself behind. This is post holing at 25k feet in 4 feet of new snow, this is carrying a kayak 3 miles through devils club while being staked by a cougar. You will call out for your mommy, but your mommy can not help you. This is trample the week, and hurtle the dead, wild animal kind of . And because of this, Type 3 fun is the most fun to talk about afterwards. (From the Dirt Bag Diaries Podcast)
My definition of Adventure is different from the dictionary, because when i think about adventures, and how they “grow” and “find” you
I define adventure as:
An Adventure grows in your life, it is
Like Doing something you’ve dreamed
like Being a boy from a book
Like Being able to see beauty around you
And knowing you are special to God
It’s like Walking through a door that is uncertain
And learning to deal the consequences
And it’s Holding close, those you love,
And sharing their life
So I say Adventure is a verb, that grows, surrounds, teaches, and defines us as who we are.