Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The adventures of Tom Sawyer

I should probably read this book again. I remember thinking as a kid that it would have be fun if I were Tom Sawyer's side kick tagging along with him on his adventures. I know I would be honored if he considered tagging along with me on some of mine.
Tomorrow night I am going to the midnight show of New Moon. I never stay up late, unless I have a newborn. I'm an early to bed early to rise person. When I hear people waiting in line all night to see movies I always thought, "Why would people do that? They can just see the movie the next day at a decent hour." I still have the same thought process but yet I am doing that same thing tomorrow night. At least I have tickets and I don't have to wait in line for hours. Before you call me a hypocrite, I have to explain my self discovery that hit me this morning. First of all, I'm not putting myself through this because I'm a Twilight freak. It's actually part of my self discovery as well. Before reading the Twilight series, I hadn't read a book from cover to cover since high school. I'm not a reader and with young ones, I don't know how moms get a chance to read. I always thought sitting down for a couple hours to read was boring. I'd rather be up and moving around. By the time my kids go to bed, I'm ready to climb into my own (remember "early to bed"). But this last May when Jeff and I went to Hawaii with no kids, I thought, "I am going to read a book" stepping "out of my box." Well that week I read 2 of the Twilight books and I later read the last 2. It was enjoying, but I'm not going to reread them over and over like some people do. I'm not going to buy myself a shirt or buy movie. I didn't even buy the books, I borrowed them.
Going to see the movie at midnight tomorrow has got me thinking. I would have never done this, so why am I doing it now? Here's where the self discovery or "ahh-ha" moment comes to life. Looking back this past year, I have realized that I have a love for life, a zest for adventure and I don't have to be a bubbly, funny, outgoing extravert of a person to have that love of life that I assumed those people have (although I'm sure that is true in some cases, it's not always). In Hawaii, I read those books, that I normally would'nt, I have been in a shark tank, I moved to ALASKA (which is still shocking to me), I'm not finding out the gender of our baby, and now I'm staying up until at least 3 am tomorrow morning knowing I'm going to be exhausted the next day. These are some of my adventures. Reading Twilight took me extra strength to just "sit" and lose myself in a book, the shark tank took extra guts to get in the ocean w/ sharks swimming around me, moving to alaska required extra faith, not finding out the gender took extra willpower, and going to this movie at midnight will take extra energy to keep my eyes open. I realized that all these adventures required "EXTRA," meaning I have it in me, but needed a push. These adventures were all fun and exhilarating to me. These adventures although lame to some people create in myself a love for life, an enthusiasm for self awareness, a challenge to see what I can do. I spend most my hours serving kids and these adventures are for me only. In doing things for myself once in awhile, I am having a fun life that I enjoy. It makes me love motherhood and being a wife because I love myself (that sounds cocky, but I think you know what I mean). I'm pushing and challenging myself to things I wouldn't normally do. Life is too short so why not experience things I normally wouldn't do if the opportunity arises, thus becoming my adventures.
So these have been my adventures this past year and I strongly feel that of all my adventures Tom Sawyer would certainly love Alaska and have many new adventures of his own in this state. What are your adventures?
For your viewing pleasure: Our backyard in November

5 comments:

Kirsten said...

Life has definitely taken on a new meaning, being out of my comort zone. I say bring on all the adventures that life has to offer!

Melissa said...

I think your words are inspiring. It's nice to see people grab life by the horns, it really makes me think that I need to also.

Amy said...

Awesome pictures of your back yard!
I loved the trip you took me down discovery lane.

I thought I would hate Twilight. In fact I declined my first few offers to read a borrowed copy. Then I was put on bed rest. Perhaps it was because my expectations were so low that I loved it so much. I have reread them, but I didn't go to the midnight showing. Maybe I'll go next week some time!

I always thought you were completely adventurous- moving to Colorado, then the shark tank and then Alaska. I would never have thought you were pushing your limits unless you had confessed.

Good for you.

mags said...

aha i found you! i wish i would've thought of it as an adventure, should've gone. dang.

Amie said...

Love this Lauren. Good for you. It can be hard to remember to do some things for yourself, but it does make life better. I wish we lived close enough that I could be your Tom Sawyer buddy.