Wednesday, May 6, 2015

another giveaway!


I fell in like with this magnet, got one for me, one for my friend pugmom and one for a lucky reader.

I grew up in Fl. I went to the beach a lot, broiling under the bright sun wearing a bikini and baby oil.
Baste. Turn. I put lemon juice in my brown hair to get blond highlights.

I can still hear the waves crashing, smell the copertone suntan lotion, feel the warm sand sifting through my fingers as I mindlessly sat in my chair.
Watching. Staring. Being.

I kept a tan all year long. I was adopted and discovered the reason I didn't look like any family members later in life, also discovering I was half Italian. No wonder I was more olive skinned.

So to the drawing... tell me about a daring moment in your life. A time when you took a little risk and it worked out fine.

This is one of my stories:
As a young adult I followed my sense of adventure (and a Canadian boyfriend) to Edmonton Alberta Canada to live there for a year. I went from being a social worker to being a nanny so that I could work.
By the way, living in Canada was a great experience and my love for that country is great. 

A social worker girlfriend of mine drove up with me. across the USA. From Florida turn left at St. Louis then right at Denver. We had mini-adventures along the way but one in particular stands out.

We stopped in Yellowstone Park  for two nights.
 It was a "dark and stormy night" as we rolled in.
The power went out through the park, and people gathered at the only business open, a grocery store with a generator, to scavenge for dinner in the snack aisles. We chatted with some guys touring the park on motorcycles that looked like little houses on wheels. One said, do you want a ride?

I'm a mix of adventurous and timid, both extremes pop up in the weirdest times. I looked at my friend who shrugged, and I took a breath and said, okay.

 I was afraid of cycles, but for some reason not afraid of the young man. I had been doing social work for years by this time and knew how to intuitively size up a person. I mean, you never know...I wouldn't let my niece do this!!.... but I got on. It was dark, the radio enveloped us with a song, the wind rushed through my hair, as we sped along. It was over in an instant and left a permanent memory.

Risky. Crazy. So unlike me. 

 I allowed myself to risk and it worked out.


There would be many risks to follow in life, I lived through the 70's, I went into dicey neighborhoods to carry out court ordered counseling, I partied in Ybor City when it was very Bohemian, I traveled through Europe by myself on a Eurail pass, I made lots of decisions some of which panned out some of which turned into learning moments if not regrets. But as I approach another birthday, somehow getting older each year, I can still see the risk taking girl inside, the one balancing adventure with safety.

Tell me about  a time you've taken a risk,  for a chance to win the magnet! Best story wins.
UPDATE!
Two winners were chosen this time, Carol and Glen. I love love loved all the stories, y'all. Thank you so much. 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a tough question for me 'cause I'm not much of a risk taker in my physical life (take plenty of risks in art work but those won't hurt me:). I guess my friends think the riskiest thing I do now is drive alone across country from MD to WI and KS .... :) Linda

Mari said...

I don't have a great story, but the riskiest thing I ever did was go to graduate school in my 30s when I had 3 young kids. It was a juggling act, but I've never regretted it! Love your little quilt! You have such a great way with color.

Maria said...

I'm sure my story will be Blah, but one of my wildest and riskier things I've done (that is acceptable for the public) is when I had my ear cartilage pierced. The first time I went to have it pierced I chickened out ... It took me another half a year to get the courage to go again and that was on a quick spur of the moment. When I'm taking a risk I can not plan I just need to do it without planning.
Btw: the crunching sound was the worse part.

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

Oh, wow! Risk taking. I always think that is NOT me, but I have taken my share of steps toward the scary rather than the safe. My biggest was in 1979 after being married for 7 years, being displaced by his mother time and time and time again, I was ready to give it up. I gave him a choice, me or her. He chose her, I left.

It was fortunate enough that he did at least want to work it out and we decided that a move out of the city would be a new start. His mother was against me going to college even though I had put my life on hold to put Frank through college. So that was the deal. I enrolled at SLU.

I threw myself into it. I got my first degree in 2 1/5 years and was valedictorian. I got my masters in the next year and my PhD 2 years after that.

I would never have imagined that the little girl who was controlled by her father, who gave her life to her husband who turned it over to his mother, would have done so well.

It was a tough 5 years, but the mother in law has since died, the husband grew up and we are still married now, 43 years this summer!

I am so lucky it all worked out. Although he really gets on my nerves sometimes, I still keep him around!

LA Paylor said...

oh my spirit is raised with the stories I am hearing! Women defining and re-defining themselves with each risk. There are many stories not shared on the blog, some sent to me privately and many more are thinking of their defining moments and risks taken in life quietly in the privacy of your own mind.
Thank you all. I am leaving the post open for a few more days...
LeeAnna

quiltedfabricart said...

I also was a young woman in the 70's and a wild child. I grew up in a small town in upstate NY and as soon as I graduated high school took off to Florida to work winters and then back to NY for summers to work. One summer I met this boy from Vermont and we hit it off having a world win summer romance. We lived about 2 hours from each other but would meet up often. When I was ready to go back to Florida, I packed up all my my belongings and started south but thought, what the hell and drove over to vermont first to say good bye (and let's face it I wanted some shall we say nookie - lol!) he was working at a car dealership so I pulled in to tell him I was leaving and did he want to go? He went into his boss, quit - we drove to his moms house where he was living, grabbed his toothbrush and off to Florida we went. That was 40 years ago and we are still together be it better or for worse.

Lisa said...

wow that's a pretty awesome story!

Lisa said...

okay my story keeps getting deleted somehow...hrmph. I come for a long line of Nervous Nellies, that is to say NOT risk takers with perhaps my paternal grandfather who joined the Royal West Mounted Police underage (and his mom went and told on him!) So coming up with my own story... it seems many of us risked for love. I met a great guy in grad school but had already taken a job back home in Canada. BUT I packed up my life, went back across the border with a job in New York State to be with this guy (even when my parents clearly were not happy that I was with him... another story) and 25 years later I am still here and married!!!