Adventure

A few days ago, I ate lunch at the Szechuan Express in Taylorsville. I ordered the garlic chicken and it was very good. I had driven past it many times and never eaten there in all of those years. The fortune in the fortune cookie said it all: “Adventure can be real happiness.”

I'm always up for an adventure. Adventures don't always turn out happy, but they are always interesting. Sometimes adventures are challenging. They tax us to our limits—mold our character, build our courage, and turn us into someone who is just a little bit different than we were before we embarked on the journey.

Adventure is part of life. There are two major ways we can approach adventure. The first is to try to have as little of it as possible. Sit down, don't move, never follow any urges or promptings, never do anything fun because it could possibly end in adventurous disaster.

The second approach is the way I prefer. And that's to embrace adventure with confidence and with curiosity. The great explorers all had this way about them. Accomplishment follows in the wake of this approach. Disaster can loom as well, but great adventurers learn to cope with disaster or die in the attempt.

I think of life as an adventure and always have. Though there are perils involved in life's adventures, those who learn to embrace them also open themselves up for a great deal of happiness. Like the fortune cookie said, “Adventure can be real happiness.” It can, and my take is that without it, you never truly find the happiness you seek. Embrace it.

Dream homes...dream lives

One of my dreams is to one day own an old ranch house with a wrap-around porch out in the country somewhere. It would sort of look like this picture from an old Leanin' Tree card:

Yeah, I think it might look exactly like that. Now, the thing is, how to get such a house and the feeling that goes with it. Getting it, and in the right location, would require a bit of cash. Now, I have the capability of earning such cash. All it will take is getting a good novel or two under my belt--novels that take off in the public eye. I'm confidant that I can do that. The question is, do I want it bad enough to do the work it's going to take to get it?

The next question is, how to get the feeling that comes to mind when I look at that Christmas card greeting. That's something that comes from the heart. Something that comes from love. Something that can only come from good friends and family. It depends upon the people that will live in that home. It's only a dream. Something for the future. But like anything else in life, a great home with a great feeling of love doesn't just happen by itself, and the question is, do we want it bad enough that we will do the work it takes to get it?

I will leave your hopes and dreams up to you. As for me, I set out on a great journey years ago. Sometimes life sidetracks us, but that only means that we need to show our mettle by overcoming the sidetracks and still coming through in the end. My journey isn't over until I'm dragged, kicking and screaming into the grave, and even then, I suspect more journeys ahead. Is my goal of owning a vintage ranch house with a wrap-around porch in a small community a good one? Yes, I think so. But better still is the goal of having that feeling of peace and love in my home. It's something we must always work on and is rarely perfect, but in those times when it is, it is magnificent.

I'm feeling a bit sucky today

Some days, you just don't feel all that great. It can be a physical thing, or it can be something emotional or mental. Sometimes you can't even do anything about it. Like now. For me.

We all feel down sometimes. And we all need to know how to climb back up. I know. You've felt down before too. Maybe you're even feeling so now. So, now, how to climb back up. That's the million dollar question and there often aren't easy answers.

Here's my suggestion. Grab your life by the scruff of the neck and make it do what you want it to do. That's it. Be proactive. Don't wait. Do something. Maybe knocking yourself off dead-center is what you need to do in order to get out of the blues.

It's what I need. Or at least, part of what I need. The other part lies down the road, and only time will cure that part.

Until then, I (and you) need to make the best of what God has given us. We all do. It's those who can do so who end up living happy lives filled with great things. And that's what I want.