ADVENTURE BEGINS AT HOME

In the backyard of my childhood home, there were five pine trees growing parallel to a fence at the edge of our property. Stately and evergreen, those trees were likely planted as an aesthetic windbreak, but for my brother, my friends, and me, they were the gateways to hours of adventure.

There is power in pretend. One day, those trees were giants that we had to fight with sticks (yes, I see the irony) to protect our home. On another day, they were forts during our games of war (when the boys of the neighborhood came to play) and castles where we princesses sat for tea. The spaces between the trees were portals which, when crossed, landed us in the desert, on the ocean, or in outer space.

I never realized that those hours of play were satisfying an innate longing to be somewhere else, to overcome the limits of time and space, and to recreate the stuff of books and movies. (Plus, you can’t often go on a trip for FREE!)

You don’t just wake up one day as a traveler. A life of adventure begins with curiosity and creativity and sometimes just an awe for and obsession with the beauty around you.

During this time of COVID-19, I have had to think differently about adventure. I had grown accustomed to being on an airplane as often as the pocketbook would allow. I had slipped into a mindset that “far away” was the only place to find a thrill. With “far away” being off limits, I had to redefine adventure and hearken to childhood’s backyard pleasures.

Adventure wasn’t hard to find. My adult backyard is brimming with lilac bushes, tulips, plum trees, apple trees, peonies… And my cherry tree. *sigh* Seeing those delicate, blush-colored  blossoms fold out over the black bark this spring gave me a thrill akin to landing on a runway in Europe.

Adventure, it seems, encompasses all exciting and unusual experiences. The dictionary calls it “a bold and risky undertaking with an uncertain outcome.” While confined to our home during the last few months, my husband and I took on a few undertakings that I would deem adventurous. We remodeled my home office room, replaced all of our old windows (which included EVERY window in the house), and have begun re-siding the entire exterior. For a person like me who struggles to even hold a drill correctly, these projects have truly been of a bold, risky, and uncertain nature. What if I mess it up? What if it’s hideous? What if I fall off the ladder and break my arm? Or worse, BREAK MY HUSBAND’S TOOLS?

But all that time I spent prying up old cedar shake siding and ripping out at least 10,000 nails, I had a lot of time to reflect on what it means to be an adventurer. It means you’ve got to be a little gutsy. Try that new food, talk to your neighbor, read that thick book. You need to be a little vulnerable—my least favorite kind of adventure, by the way.

Look around your home. What adventures can you create within your space? Is there a corner that could use a facelift? Is it finally time to create that blog? Hang a birdfeeder and watch the miracle of flight in a manner other than from the window seat of an airplane. It’s astonishing and unforgettable.

So, while we are all grounded for the time being, pretend, play, paint, ponder. Create your own adventure and become enchanted by your own four walls.

And a little caveat. While all this deep introspection throughout the pandemic has been great, I am really, really ready to venture beyond my backyard again. My house is going to continue to experience extreme makeover if I can’t soon get on an airplane.