Choose Your Adventure!

Our backyard should be re-named "Michigan Adventures:Rogers Version". I mean, we have rides (swings and a zip line), water features (pool, sprinkler and a watering can), concessions, (birdseed, grape jelly, suet, hummer nectar, vegetable and fruit gardens), litter (1 granola bar wrapper, popsicle stick, 1 set of nose plugs, an empty root beer can, and a used bandage- ew!). There is even a petting zoo when the dog comes outside, and birds have been known to leap from the feeder into a waiting hand full of seed! Do I need to mention chipmunks? (see my "Something in the Bag is Moving" blog)

Life is an adventure in and of itself. Ups, downs, twists, vomiting. The opposite of that is boring, humdrum, mundane...they actually mean the same thing, but I like to overuse words. It's fun. It all depends on how you define "adventure". Read on.

I used to be younger, as many of you have been. My life as a teenager consisted of lying around in the sun, listening to loud music as I cruised the streets with friends, parties, some of them in the woods, and just being a kid. I know my parents must have had them, but I don't really remember birds back then. Who needed birds? Did I worry that the M-80's we were lighting off were going to terrorize the deer or traumatize all the cute bunnies in the woods? No way!

Well, somewhere along the way, I got enlightened to the good part of the world around me. It occurred to me during this conversation I had with Patty. We were like little old ladies, only without rockers and vicks vaporub. Here goes:

Me: Hey! I had my first Baltimore Oriole the other day!
Patty: Yeah, we get those. I have Indigo Buntings. I took a bunch of pictures of them.
Me: Hmmm....well, I had a pair of Bluebirds.
Patty: Yeah, we see those a lot.
Me: Oh. Well, do you have a lot of chipmunks?
Patty: Hello, we live in the woods.
Me: Yeah, we get a lot of chipmunks. Some of them are deranged, I think.
Patty: Let me tell you what's deranged.
Me: Please don't start on your mother-in-law again.
Patty: How about turkeys? We have a lot of those.
Me: Oh, yeah, we've got 'em. Deer too. fawns, does, no bucks yet.
Patty: That's cool.

After we hung up from that weird conversation (some of which has been embellished for the media), I got to thinking, that was just earth shattering. What happened to the 2 young moms who did nothing but talk about their combined 6 kids all the time. Who's pooping? Who's in time out? Where did that binky go again? Will I ever sleep again? and on and on. Sometimes we even forgot we were still on the phone! And if she couldn't find something while we were talking, she would obsess over it until she found it. While I was waiting on the phone!! Hello, long distance here! How did we get here??

I'd like to think of that and other conversations since of my graduation from young mom to almost seasoned mom. Maturing Motherness, yeah, that's it. Go away, spell check, it's my word. Yes it is. Now that our wild ones are growing into humans (her oldest is 17!!), we can look around and appreciate what's been there all along. The day is no longer about just getting from moment to moment, it's about stopping to smell the dog poop, I mean flowers. Hey! There are flowers out there!

I really brought this revelation home with another conversation with a friend who's not quite at the seasoned mom stage. She's still a nature virgin, we'll say. So here's more proof of my "theory":

Me: I'm so excited! I've got a bunch of orioles coming to the feeder now. I've taken pictures too!
Her: Yeah.
Me: Well, it's just that I've waited so long. I've put out so much fruit. It's a miracle really.
Her: Uh-huh.
Me: So, how's the potty training going?
Her: So great! She's peeing in the potty all by her little self. She's almost mastered the pooping too! Well, we had one incident with the floor and the cat and all that, but woooooo! It's so great!
Me: Uh-huh.

Adventure. Are you in the middle of yours and you just don't see it yet? How do you define adventure? I used to think it was white water rafting or bungee jumping. Now I know those are just stupid. Real adventure takes a great mind. Look outside the box. Get out of the box. Notice what's there. See it, touch it, sniff it, and if it moves, you may want to run away from it. Just don't stay parked so long that you become part of the car! And if you get a chance to visit "Michigan Adventure: Rogers Version", you will never forget it!