Adventure Proposal

  I have a proposal for you dear reader. No, its not marriage, but its still pretty awesome. What I'm asking, what I'm proposing is a commitment. This proposal is also a challenge. The proposal is this: to have an adventure of some sort once a week.

   You might be asking, "What exactly constitutes an adventure?", good question, and that is completely up to you. An adventure can be as large or small as you like. Reading a book different from the genre you usually read? That's an adventure. Trying out a new type of tea or coffee? Sure, definitely. A walk through the pouring rain while pretending you're in the musical Singing in the Rain? Most assuredly an awesome adventure. Going to see a movie in the theater alone? worthwhile adventure. Climbing a tree? Heck yes. Finding a new trail and seeing where it leads? Go for it! Ghost hunting in a graveyard? A great adventure. Asking out someone you like? Nerve-racking adventure. Building a snowman? Yes, and even more so if it is made somewhere other than your lawn. Hunting for treasure or artifacts? Yes, although the chances of this one being the case are less likely if you are not Indiana Jones.

  Adventure is about imagination, fear, and spontaneity. Its about getting outside your comfort zone, even if its just putting a toe across that line. One thing a week that makes you smile(possibly mischievously), fills you with wonder and delight, lets you believe anything is possible; one thing each week that gives you a story. What do you say?   

Post Rapture Assesment

They said The Rapture was supposed to happen yesterday at 6 PM, but it seemed like a day just like any other, maybe a bit sunnier in the afternoon. It was quite relaxing, was the Rapture supposed to be relaxing? who knows? Through out my college town, there were still cook outs and barbecues, people laying out in the sun, frisbees being thrown, hulas hooped, bikes were rode; generally a good time was had, if the heaven's had opened up, I think people would have said "Please, a little longer, its such a nice day, it'd be a horrible waste to leave now.."

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Under the Sun's heat, under the cool earth, beneath rock and stone, under lock and key, there lay a chest. A chest that had long been forgotten; the ones who had buried it were long gone. Yet the chest was still there, waiting.

It had waited and waited, until one particularly sunny Wednesday in July. Two imaginative boys had been laying in the sun most of the afternoon, lazily watching the clouds go past, exclaiming what they thought the shapes looked like,

"Look! A turtle!"

"No! Now its a Rocket Ship!"

"That one's a mushroom!"

"Bunny!"

Then a series of odd clouds passed, almost as if the sky was trying to tell a story. The boys continued to shout what they saw..

"Look, I think that one's a shovel!"

"Those two look like...kids! like us!"

"Look an 'X'!"

"A..Chest?!"

Both of them together, "TREASURE?!"

So together they ran home and grabbed two shovels and ran off into the woods to find a good spot without roots to start digging. Eventually they came to an opening in the woods and started to dig.

Scoop, throw, scoop, throw, scoop, throw. On and on and on.

They got tired, but didn't stop, the cold dark earth was all around them but they kept going. The sun had gone down, and they knew they would have to take a break so their mother wouldn't kill them. So they went home. In the morning they got up extra early, did their chores as fast as possible and then ran to the hole.

The brothers dug and dug, eventually striking their shovels into a surface with a dull thud. They were more than thirty feet down by now, or had to be, they thought, the sunlight was oh so far away. They knelt down and dusted the dirt below them where they felt the thud. After a few moments a very old, worn chest began to emerge. The boys got excited with anticipation and started to uncover it faster, sweeping and scooping the dirt away with their hands.

Soon enough, the ancient chest was uncovered and the boys collapsed beside it. It was clearly locked, but maybe the lock had given way after all these years. They tried just lifting it; no luck. So they got creative, holding a shovel to the metal lock they jumped upon the shovel head and after three or four jumps, there was a loud "KLANG!" and the lock popped clean off.

The boys jumped down off their shovels and each grabbed a side of the chest lid, and heaved upwards. Inside were just a few things, a small packet, an envelope, and a few small momentos. The brothers took the envelope, opened it and the older brother read out loud:

"Dear Future Adventurers,

I hope that it was a summer day which found you digging up our treasure we left so many years ago. I would like to apologize, you were probably expecting gold or rupees, some sort of treasure that would make you rich just like me and my brother imagined as we started digging in a similar hole when we were but young lads. Now time has passed and I thought I would pay it forward for a new generation of adventurers. In the packet you will find 4 four leaf clovers, may they bring you luck in your future travels.

Yours truly,
The Brothers Matthew and Joseph
June 3rd,
1832"

The older brother dropped the letter back into the chest, and pick out the packet containing the four leaf clovers. He handed two of them to his brother. Smiling the adventurers clambered out of their hole and ran home.