The Adventure of Afterthought

My husband, Jacob, and I have been on a huge Reese Witherspoon kick this quarantine. We ended up watching one of her movies called Wild. It’s about a woman whose life is so messed up that she decides to change the course of it by hiking the Pacific Coast Trail (PCT). It reminded me of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a movie about a man who is so lost in his own thoughts that his life is moving on without him. He starts to become part of the adventures going on in his head, making them a reality. These people are forever changed from these adventures, making me want to experience them, too. Jacob mentioned how Croatia was his Walter Mitty adventure. It reminded me of running from one village to another while we were there. It felt so very American of me to do. I was running in my athletic clothes, passing barns and houses where people lived off of the basics. I would wave as I passed people sitting outside. They all had the strangest looks on their faces, like running hadn’t even been invented yet. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I also feel like quarantine is one of these life changing adventures for me. No, I’m not out and about climbing mountains, but I’m taking time away from my job. Exploring the depths of my mind and artistic ability. Really reconnecting with myself and who God made me to be.  My dreams have been rampant as well, practically adventures on their own, let alone my conscious ones. I love this type of movie. It can be hard to watch at times, but it makes us want to strive for a more fulfilled life. To push ourselves. To get out of our comfort zones and let Earth shape us into something we never thought we could be.