The picture of me with my binoculars on the blog masthead is pretty typical of me. There’s everyone else facing forward waiting patiently for the Yellowstone geyser to go off. And then there’s me. I’m the one, as usual, going or doing the total opposite of most everyone else. I’m looking at the exquisitely beautiful and total enamoring Osprey circling overhead, looking for its next fish to eat.
As a kid, when dad would come home from drinking, my sister would run for the bedroom and close the door. Her motto: Get the heck outta there as quick as possible! Me? I’d run for the door and could absolutely tell if he’d been drinking. If he had been drinking, it was my main goal in life to literally pick a fight with him!
Of course, at that young age I had no clue I was doing that. It was only in my young adult years of groups, workshops and therapies of trying to understand the alcoholism in my family that I realized what I had been doing. As dad was getting closer to having to retire from the military, the way he dealt with his fear of how he’d take care of his family, including five kids, was to drink. All he’d ever known was the military way of life since he was a young man. His drinking became worse and the alcoholism increased the closer he got to retirement. Dad had also never talked about the atrocities he’d experienced in World War II as a young man of 18 years. It wasn’t until his senior years he shared with any of us the results of having never dealt with seeing all the killing and dying as a young man fresh off the farm. Luckily for all of us, dad quit drinking when I was only 18 myself.
So, somehow I grew up being the rebel—whether that was through angry outbursts or interminable depressions. I always seemed to go the opposite of others in my family or community.
I’ve shared how my usual MO was to be fearful, but I’d always eventually face the fear head on—whether that be meeting dad at the front door as he came home from drinking, or learning to rappel down off a high cliff or parasailing in Mexico . . . I’d eventually do it.
So all these adventures I’ve led myself on over the years have led me back to Yellowstone once again. I leave in three weeks to live in and do tours working in Yellowstone National Park for five months this summer. I’ll be a tour guide driving those restored yellow touring cars or a “step-on” tour guide for large tour buses coming into the Park.
I was—as usual—fearful: Could I do this? Would I be good enough? Will I remember everything there is to share with everyone? But as I eventually do, I faced the fears of “What if?” with “Yes! Of course I can!” I’ve been doing tours at the Desert Botanical Garden since 2008 and have a national certification that says I’m qualified to do so. I enjoy people and love getting them excited and interested in nature. I think I’m up to the task—and everyday get more excited about my next “Big Adventure.”
Over the next number of months it’s my hope here to share with you pictures and stories about this new adventure. Who knows, maybe you’ll become encouraged to have your own next Big Adventure!
