Adventure #2

Eight years is a long time to explore. Eight years is a long time to wait.

Eight years are over.

Year one begins.

This "new" year officially started about a month ago, when I quit talking. Not talking altogether, but talking to [him]. The ride from there has been bumpy, but friends, family, work, and exercise kept me sane. Kept being the operative word. My sanity is coming into question now as I begin to enter new relationships and I see all the junk that I still need to sort through from the last trip. Old shoes, old hats, old songs, old notes, and other memorabilia surface, but I am sorting through them and keeping the important items from which I can still learn and grow. I am throwing out the things that only weigh me down. At this point I was going to list disappointment and heartache, but I realized that I need those to remain human and to remain vulnerable. So what can I throw out?

I really jumped into the adventure though when I de-friended [him] on facebook this week (how pathetic is it that facebook plays such an important role in relationships?). So, now the adventures of new dating life has started.
Date 1: This actually occurred back in September, but was such a joke that I'm not sure I should count it. Israeli, hair straightener guy. Enough said.
Date 2: While I did go on a date with an old friend, he now has a different girlfriend, so should I count this? Farmer, corn-fed, mid-western. Ha. Not exactly my type.
Date 3: At this point I am beginning to question who I include in the category of "my type" and who I exclude. I think, maybe I am too hard on people. Maybe I need to be more open; let them reveal themselves to me. So another date...

I'm still unsure what I'm looking for. I'm still unsure if I will accept it when I see it. Do you think we ever have certainty?

Adventure

While this blog was used for my African excursion previously, a friend of mine has challenged me to begin blogging again. He gave me the topic of Adventure and said I could write whatever I wanted! Joy!

Here it goes...

What constitutes an adventure? Is it exploring the woods and bushwhacking like I did a few weeks ago? Is it traveling through Africa on buses by yourself? Maybe adventure is going back to school to pursue a graduate degree while working full time, or perhaps an adventure is when you sit at home and read a book that takes you through a twisting plot of intrigue. Pondering these options, the definition of true adventure naturally evinces itself: relationship.

Relationship has all the markings of a great adventure: preparation, risk, unpredictability, mystery, laughs, a few scratches, satisfaction, and beauty.

Adventure #1: Arriving in Denmark on New Year’s Eve 2000, Lynda, my Danish contact, and I partied for my first night out in Aarhus with some beer drinking, booty shaking, and good times. This trip may seem like an adventure in and of itself, but as the first month in Aarhus passed quickly, my true adventure was just about to begin: [he] walked into the International Student Center for a Tuesday night bar. Immediately my spirit jumped; so did his. And so the eight year adventure commenced...