About Adventures
Adventure : an unusual, exciting, and maybe possibly dangerous activity, such as a trip or experience.
When we look at this definition of Adventure, all my family and friends think first of our idea to sail around the world with the kids. But, that is not my first adventure that comes up in my mind.
My wedding was an adventure! Why? Well, we married in China, in a hot air balloon, not to mention that the groom, our best men and our celebrant friend were all afraid of height. That wedding was absolutely unusual and exciting (at least for me!) About the possibly dangerous part. Someone might argue that hot air balloon is no big deal. Let me tell you this. The company we flew with specifically mentioned that “All their pilots have won medals.” As reassuring as they were trying to be by not specifying at all which kind of medals, it still turned out that a month later, one of their hor air balloons crashed. No kidding! So not only the wedding was unusual, exciting and possibly dangerous: it WAS dangerous after all! But we still just got up in the balloon with no fear at all (again, at least me!) I guess there are not as many movies about crashing hot air balloon as there are movies abiout sinking boats and big storm. All that to say that oing in an adventure can be a decision or simply just happen even though you did not intend too. But in the end, it is always memorable.
We Cannot Just Wish It Happens
My very first adventure happened when I was 21. I was on a zodiac on my way to check the very top item on my bucket list: swimming with sharks! I’ve always found them graceful and perfect, but for no good reasons I really never did something to make this wish a reality. I guess I just had the idea that somehow, someday, my dream would come true (I have a princess name you know). The resort I was spending my week in had this option among various other activities. So of course, I took it! And just like that, with no real effort, the most crazy dream I had was about to get real. “Is it that easy? I could have waited a long time for nothing…right now it only happens because of luck but really, it was not even hard or expensive!” I was thinking exactly about this, when my neighbor inadvertently slapped me in the face with his tuba. OUCH!! My nose started to bleed – a lot. The diving instructor told me it would not make any difference. Wait? Is it good or bad? I trusted him and still went for the swim while bleeding in my mask. It worth it. I will remember all my life when the biggest shark’s back brushed against my foot. I will also remember what I told myself that evening when I was cooling down. “The top items on my list are the most important but they might not be so hard to achieve. I will always start to check my bucket list from now on with the first item on the top”. Six months later, I cross checked my second item on the list and trekked the Inca Trail toward stunning Machu Picchu.
And There’s Something Wrong With Bucket Lists
AKA The Wisdom Of Bobby
During our honeymoon in Bali, we bought two surfs in a small shop owned by Bobby. He kindly offered us to make a big case to carry them back in Canada. “Wedding gift!” he was saying. When the case was finally ready few days later, we rented a scooter to go pick it up. Two persons on a scooter with 2 surfboards makes you really look like you’re beach bums. But it is also quite an adventurous ride, let me tell you! But, that is another story. When we arrived, we wanted to thank Bobby, but the shop was closed. A friend of him was standing by, smoking a cigarette. “Where’s Bobby?” Sam asked. He looked at Sam nodding the head, looked at its watch, and then, he replied to us pointing again the watch hands. “Bobby? Bobby went surfing.” It was so obvious to him. It was 11 o’clock in the morning, the tide moment of the day where the tide is at its highest point and the waves perfect for surfing. Bobby is not rich like most Balinese and he might get a bit more money by keeping his shop opened all day long. But he does what he loves the most: he surfs the big waves. And he doesn’t do it once in a while. He does it every day, at 11 o’clock. The shop can wait. Money can wait. What a beautiful life lesson. At the airport Sam and I were quiet. “Is it possible that we are not putting our dreams as a priority in our life? That it is not what we want to check an item on our bucket list only once in a while?”
Shouldn’t life be more than having a bucket list in a drawer somewhere?
But Aren’t You Afraid Of The Big Storms?
We feel that time flies and that life has more to offer than the typical american dream we were living. We don’t mind the routine, but we refuse that the only unexpected things in our life happen when we’re running out of toilet paper! We want to show our kids how to turn out fear into curiosity and excitement. We want to give ourselves the invaluable gift of seeing them growing 7 days a week. More importantly, we believe that this dream of sailing around the world in simplicity with them is an opportunity to show how beautiful, yet fragile the world is. We want them to know that the people around the world are no different than us as human being, and that happiness is the true thing everybody wants. This is why this project is named SaltyMatey : in the honor of our two kids who bring us enough courage to walk the talk.
I hear you say: “But, aren’t you afraid of the big storms?”
Why, YES to be honest. (But come one, it’s not like if we were leaving on a chinese hot air balloon!) But let’s start first by heading south, where the water is blue and beer is cheap. Let’s dare to take life slowly for a few years.
