A Level 1 trip was the equivalent of sitting on a nice boat enjoying the scenery go by, and a Level 5 trip essentially meant you needed a doctor’s waiver because you could die. Chris, a well-seasoned traveller and adventurer, told us to “pick a trip, any trip…but,” he added “preferably not one in a jungle with big bugs.” So, Glenn and I started scouring the REI catalog to make our selection of a (bug-free) trip.Įach trip was ranked on a scale from 1 to 5 based on level of difficulty. In early 2006 Glenn and I were making plans to take an “active vacation” (hiking, biking, etc.) through REI Adventures tours with Glenn’s brother Chris. If I wanted to jump out of planes, then by God I was going to jump out of planes! Even if it meant I’d have to get a custom made jumpsuit because the ones at the jump school were too small.Īfter one of my skydiving jumps – in a borrowed jumpsuit from the 1970’s…when they made them big and billowy! Eventually I got a custom-made jumpsuit.īut, somewhere along the way, my weight did start to define what I could and couldn’t do.Īt over 300 pounds it was physically too hard to be an adventure seeker – I was literally carrying the weight of another adult around with me everywhere I went. The size of my pants didn’t determine my worth, and it certainly wouldn’t dictate what I could or couldn’t do. I’ve really never been one to allow my weight to define me. By the time I was a teen I was at least 30 pounds overweight, and in my twenties I was probably more than 50 pounds overweight, by my thirties I was well over 100 pounds overweight. Described as “big-boned” by adults in an effort to be kind, and as a great many other things by fellow kids in an effort to be not so kind. I have been overweight my entire life – was always the chubby girl in elementary and junior high. It turns out she was, quite literally, buried. I was no longer that adventure seeker with a zest for life. I was living in great city with spectacular coffee, beer and food! What more could a person want? I certainly didn’t think I wanted anything more.īut all the while I never realized that I had lost the spark in the core of my soul.
Don’t get me wrong – my workaday world was great! I had an amazing partner, fabulous job, adorable pets and good friends. Falling in love, jobs and mortgage payments become the focus instead of where to go adventuring on Spring Break. I guess that is a natural progression really. At that moment a big switch in my brain flipped and I realized, quite to my astonishment, that I had somehow become a spectator in my own life. But that wasn’t the version of me that was standing in that park that day. I was overcome with the realization that the version of myself I described above totally would have done something like quit her job to travel the world. As I said my goodbyes I was struck by two things nearly simultaneously: 1) Holy shit…they’re actually doing it!, and 2) Huh, that could have been me!?!?
I attended their going away party in a beautiful Portland park as they began their grand adventure. A couple of years ago our friends Kim and Brian sold all of their belongings, quit their jobs and set out to travel the world.
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