Recent Shenanigans...
Holly and I just returned from a long weekend at Devil's Lake State Park. Although we had to endure some thunderstorms, they didn't hamper the weekend shenanigans too much, and we packed in lots of fun:
1. We hunted down a bunch of geocaches in the state park, in Baraboo, in the Dells, and in Merrimac.
2. We went on several hilly, thigh-burning, glute-thrashing runs through Baraboo and the state park.
3. We spent a day running around Noah's Ark water park like little kids. (And we lounged on lawn chairs near the zipline and placed wagers on which out-of-shape couch potatoes would not be able to hold on. (This is perhaps mean, but I'm paying those lazy-asses' health care bills now, damnit!))
4. We went on some beautiful hikes atop the bluffs of Devil's Lake.
5. Etc.
There has been quite a bit of jumping lately. I made a deeply satisfying—but some would say unlucky—13 skydives last week. The busy week of jumping was capped off with seven of us jumping out sans clothing and building a big, naked formation. It was the perfect, albeit silly, celebration of a life less ordinary. (No photos, sorry).
To be alive...and to be living!
This, the weekend of May 14—16, 2010, marks the 5-year anniversary of topher's near-fatal skydiving accident. In that spectacular blunder, I managed not to lose my life, but emerged with seven broken bones (three of them in my spinal column), three injured organs, and more than five months of surgery, therapy, and having to learn to walk again. It was a horrendously painful and destructive mistake. All of it, my fault.
This weekend I celebrate five years of still being alive to make other mistakes. And in that time I've broken three more bones, had another surgery, destroyed a $2,000 camera, lost two jobs, broken more bike parts than I care to put a price tag on, and spent an evening trapped in a snow cave on the side of a mountain. But I've also visited a couple foreign countries, climbed a couple mountains, parachuted off a couple bridges and antennas, run a marathon, raced a few triathlons, earned a master's degree, met some amazing people, and shared wide smiles with great folks in some highly unlikely places.
The point of this shameless rant is: LIFE HAPPENS ONCE!
Your life will be what you make it. My life is not what it is because I am extraordinary, lucky, gifted, sponsored by equipment manufacturers, and the like. My life is what it is because I hang it out there. I name the things I want out of life and I go after them. I surround myself with people who do the same, and we inspire and support one another. And guess what we all have in common: we make mistakes.
I'm not telling you to jump a motorcycle over five school buses. I'm just saying that rich lives come to those who risk a little. Start a hobby. Visit a new place. Make a new friend. Lose 10 pounds. Turn the television off. Spend eight whole hours away from your cell phone. It will be uncomfortable at first; I promise you. But in short order you will be living your life for YOU. And once you are living the life you want to be living, you'll find you're in a much better position to share the joy and splendor of a life less ordinary. Anyone can stand by the water cooler and chat about reality TV. But not many people can stand by the water cooler and talk about competing in a ballroom dance contest in Hawaii. I know I can't, because though I've often talked about taking dance lessons, I've never done it. But I have a friend who did. And she competed in a ballroom dance contest in Hawaii. Holy shit! That's much more interesting than American Fucking Idol.
So people, you can spend the whole weekend making your lawn and shrubs look just-so, all so your neighbors will think you've made something of yourself. But I promise you that upon your death bed, you'll be kicking yourself for wasting time on such nonsense. All the freshly-waxed cars in the world won't mean anything when you breathe your last. But the smiles you've shared with people in highly unlikely places will tickle your inner child right up until that last moment.
I can say all this because five years ago I didn't think I was going to survive the impact. And in the three seconds I had to think about the planet rushing up at me, I wasn't regretting the fact that I'm not a home owner. I was taking inventory of the people I'd miss—people who are fun, inspiring, supportive, and really, really good at making the most of their mistakes.
Milwaukee Smoking Ban Countdown!
~ topher
