Every day is an adventure

I was thinking about my grandson, who is ten, who just came back from an exciting adventure in Melbourne. He was at a Math camp and evidently studied how math helped the mission to Mars. My thoughts wandered back to when I was around his age and realized that I thought every day was an adventure. But my adventures were different than his, he has been to Canada, Japan, Queensland, New South Wales and travelled throughout Victoria. His adventures are probably just as exciting for him as mine were for me, but mine were on a different scale. Changes in latitude, changes in attitude as Jimmy Buffet sang.

My earliest memories of my adventures were when I was in, I suppose about grade 3. One adventure involved a group of us going to the river in the evening to look at the stars and discuss when the aliens would land, what they would look like and how smart they would be. 

Another adventure was moving to the other side of town and getting my own home, a new home and new adventures. Those recalled adventures involved a lot of rock picking to clear the land, a great deal of hard work, putting in fence posts. However, they also involved exploring the new woods behind the house, helping to pick out the new baby cows, feeding the chickens, chasing the cow back to our property, making new friends, exploring new ways to get to the lake where we swam every summer from grade 4 to grade 12.

Other adventures were getting a new paper route and getting to know my new customers. All the adventures were not good, such as struggling to learn my place in this new community, but most were good, such as learning to manage a band when I was in grade 6 which helped when I was asked to manage a band when I was in grade 10. I also remember our weekly trips to Victoria to see our relatives and wondering why they spoke English with a funny accent. We also went to town every two weeks and I loved that we could go to the library and pick out enough books to read for the next two weeks.

Life was about adventure and learning something new every day when I was young. I hope the adventure continues for my grandson and that he finds the time to share them with us. 

When I retired, I embraced that idea and now almost every day is a new adventure, with new things to learn. COVID has slowed the adventures a bit, but through social media, they continue.  I hope that your retirement is still a journey of adventure and excitement at the new possibilities that every day presents.