Maybe “quest” is a better word for us hardliners. Quest is also used very loosely, but I tend to think there’s a hint of something sacrosanct about it, a sense of deep purpose that adventure doesn’t necessarily have. I suppose I’d have to think about it more, though.

But, I dunno. A friend of mine has a fascinating stance toward this. She loves adventures, but she feels her place is to be a storyteller, not a protagonist. We’re both very influenced by old-school RPGs, so she likens herself to an innkeeper, a savepoint, rather than a hero: and I think this is so exquisitely self-aware and beautiful. I think we tend to think that the only people with roles to play are the ones slaying dragons– the ones with the Big Destinies. That’s just. not. true.

Part of me thinks that instead of calling every struggle we have an adventure, we should allow that what makes a meaningful story in someone’s life is not necessarily some exciting endeavor, but something different & just as poignant. Perhaps some mixture of this and the acknowledgment of personal differences in scale is called for– to keep the term sharp and to acknowledge its meaningfulness to many different kinds of people.

So, yes, I, too, was an Indiana Jones girl! But my life wasn’t always “nice” as you say. Heck, it is quiet and solitary nowadays, but never a quaint and condescending “nice” that someone in the wild would envy… maybe.

After re-reading this over again, I worry that my definition of “close-to-home adventure” and “adventure-as-I-make-it-because-no-one’s-around-who-wants-to-come-out-and-play-with-me-anymore” kind of adventure is not somehow the equivalent of how patronizing southern grandmas say “Oh, bless your heart, she thinks she’s an adventurer…!” I have the utmost respect for the big, cinematic, broadcast in HD and IMAX professional adventurers doing extraordinary things gig, but is that even too far? Is that what real adventure is supposed to be? For entertainment value? To show other humans how great humans can be? To push things to their limit?

I’m dizzy from that.

A middle ground definition, some kind of compromise…

I’ve faced death and died and come back again and now spend little adventures as I see fit, making adventure where ever I can because I cannot have it elsewhere at this time, and to compensate for the longing for adventure I get after reading all of my friends’ adventures online everyday. Keeping adventure alive each day and/or night has to keep me going or I start to feel like I’ll just die! I think you can relate?

Maybe not a compromise, but after reading the new post, I don’t even think it’s about just physical risk. More about that later. I’ll do my best to be brief.