Water Towers and Pine Cone Hunts

When I was four I had an experience that left an indelible impression on me. One that probably had a lot to do to shape my adulthood. My family lived at that time on a small college campus while my dad finished his degree. One day my mom asked me and another little boy my age to go to the campus store and pick up a loaf of bread. So we began walking down the parking lot to the store. On the way, we met another boy who was about 6 or 7. He asked us if we had ever seen the water tower. So we decided to take a little detour to see the water tower. When your four, your concept of passing time is not very acute. Little did we know that after about 10 minutes my mom began to worry and started looking for us. We were nowhere to be found. So while us boys were taking a hike up through the woods (this was in the Santa Cruz mountains), my parents had recruited other family members and college students to find us. Just about the time I was taking my first step up onto the water tower stairs, my folks pulled up in my uncle's car. They put us boys in the car and proceeded to take us home. When I got home, my mother gave me the spanking that I would not forget. She admits that she lost control and was yelling at me, "Don't you ever take off like that again." I never forgot that spanking or her words.

I think I was born to be an adventurer. I am attracted to anything that seems a little on the edge. But I've lived most of my life playing it safe. Doing the things that I thought others wanted me to do, rather than pursuing what I wanted and needed. I find it less than a coincidence that I spent 15 years as a safety consultant before becoming a teacher. Telling people how to"play it safe" became my career.

As a teenager, I had another experience that left an impression on me. I met a young lady at a youth camp. We hit it off as they say, and sparks flew. On one afternoon during the camp I was asked to go find some pine cones for a demonstration around the camp fire that evening . I asked this young lady to join me. This was a so against camp rules. But the opportunity for adventure presented itself, and the chance to be alone with that beautiful young lady was too great to pass up. Well, we didn't find too many pine cones in a pine forest. Hmmm. Well, the point was, I was allowing myself to become the adventurer for that brief moment.

Why do I say all this? Well as I am searching for me, I am beginning to realize that I have to stop playing it safe. I have to take risks. I have to do what makes me happy, not what I think others want of me. While taking advice is good. I still have to realize that I am the one who has to make the decisions in my life. I was born for the water tower trips and pine cone hunts.