Adventure

“Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”       -Helen Keller

Amy I am spent a Saturday helping my mom serve lunch and dessert so some very special people. Women I had never met, but who were school pals of my mom over 50 years earlier. There was a baker’s dozen who flew in from different states or drove to my parent’s home. Some had seen each other at their 50 year class reunion last year. Some hadn’t seen each other for decades.

The women hugged and greeted each other. Laughing and shaking their heads as if to wonder how time had slipped away like sand through their fingers. Life goes on, but in that sacred moment of familiarity, glimpses of adolescent girls giggling over playground crushes and high school prom dresses stirred to the surface. Each photo shown as part of a slide show captured a time when life was simple, and youthful ambition was untarnished by life’s detours.

At lunch, they all sat down and pulled a thin strip of paper from a basket. Each paper held a one sentence story that  that others would have to guess the author. Some were easier to guess than others, but all were fascinating. Amy was spell bound. I knew that we wouldn’t be serving dessert until the entire group had finished telling stories that were as unique as the woman sharing it.

Elephant rides in India, a chance meeting with a famous actress, sailing the Sea of Cortez and being stuck in a sand dune with dignitaries were some of the tales shared. The women were smart, funny, articulate, and business savvy, but the one word that I came away with was adventurous.

Amy and I went to help serve, but we left with so much more than we could have ever given. We saw my mom in a different light as well. Glimpses of the young school girl that captured my dad’s heart made it a day we will cherish.

I wonder if younger generations will be as adventurous as my parents generation. Or have we become so entertainment saturated that our zeal for feeling the African heat on our shoulders, or the experience the brilliance of a million diamonds dancing on the open sea has become dimmed and diminished?

Life is full of adventure.