How About an Adventure

How did the concept of a northbound adventure start? Years ago Rick and I fantasized about leaving everything and heading up to Hudson Bay for a year of solitude and adventure. It would be a chance for us to reconnect with the simpler life we once relished. Rick could write his memoirs. He is quite the storyteller and has many vivid recollections of past experiences that seem to entertain and astound listeners. To me the the concept sounded as a type of vision quest and adventure. In the back of my mind, I always thought that after ten years of teaching a person should take a year to themselves to recharge and reflect. Last school year was my eleventh year of teaching. The tenth year has passed, and I resigned myself to the reality that leaving for a year was just a pipe dream; another one of my big ideas. Then a couple years ago, our daughter, Sarah, her husband, Jesse and kids, Auden and Brahm moved up to Alaska. We had visited a couple times, but being so far away when the kids were so much fun was unbearable. Rick loved Alaska. I loved being with the kids. I had a flashback. It wasn't Hudson Bay. It was better. The dream was not only still alive; it was reinforced with internal and external pushes and pulls. Before Rick knew what was happening, I had taken the plunge into the land of "what ifs" and exploring ways to turn a grandiose dream into a reality. The adventure had already begun.