My career as an expedition teacher/leader started in the 7th grade. Well... this story unfolds before I led my first expedition.
CHAPTER 1: Has anyone on their death bed ever said: "I wish I’d spent more time at the office." When my last moments are at hand, I'd like to be able to tell my grandchildren and their children, the important things I've learned along the way.
I’d start with...Make a list of all the wonderful, interesting, enjoyable, exciting things you want to do across the arc of your lifetime... then start doing them. For me it was to
I’d start with...Make a list of all the wonderful, interesting, enjoyable, exciting things you want to do across the arc of your lifetime... then start doing them. For me it was to
1. Walk Mary Leakey’s steps along Olduvai Gorge where she found the remains of our earliest ancestors. Yes, it was Mary not Louis that picked up those first bone fragments. It would take me nearly five more decades to arrive in Nairobi, on my way to find Mary’s footprints on the history of Africa.
2. Jump out of an airplane, and fly like an eagle until my parachute carries me on a bold and uplifting wind to places where the signposts are unfamiliar.
3. Click HERE to see the rest of my Life’s List.
Make your LIFE LIST. While you do, let me tell you a story.
Scene: Curtains open in a pitch black jam packed auditorium. A 7th grader sits politely at an assembly at Luther Burbank Junior High School listening to the renowned explorer John Goddard. We hear the clickity-clack of an old school film projector. A river comes into focus as we begin with Goddard his almost life ending solo expedition down the Amazon River. I don’t remember the film title but it should have been called: Cheating Death On the Amazon.
Make your LIFE LIST. While you do, let me tell you a story.
Scene: Curtains open in a pitch black jam packed auditorium. A 7th grader sits politely at an assembly at Luther Burbank Junior High School listening to the renowned explorer John Goddard. We hear the clickity-clack of an old school film projector. A river comes into focus as we begin with Goddard his almost life ending solo expedition down the Amazon River. I don’t remember the film title but it should have been called: Cheating Death On the Amazon.
It was 1960 that John Goddard presented his Amazon Adventure Film Documentary at an assembly at my school, Luther Burbank Junior High. Goddard, solo, had taken a long canoe down the length of the Amazon River. What a story teller! His documentary was a narrative of his journey. While sleeping one night in his long boat, while anchored on the river, he was attacked by a giant Amazon anaconda. Wrapped in the constricting death grip of this larger than a man predator, and with only one arm free, he grabbed a machete and hacked at his nemesis until he lost consciousness. Still wrapped in giant Anaconda coils, he awakened hours later to find dead his attacker.
Follow this link to his website.
http://www.johngoddard.info/
Afterward, Mr. Goddard descended the stage for a Q & A. Standing just two rows before me, in an almost whisper he spoke these words: “Make a list of all the things you want to do during your lifetime, then set about doing them.”
That night, inspired by Goddard’s philosophy and his sense of adventure, I pulled my National Geographic collection off the self and along with my Encyclopaedia Britannica, began work on my personal LIFE list. --- >
Years later I divided my life list into two catagories: 1. the things that require a measure of stamina like climbing Kilimanjaro, skiing the Alps, or mounting an expedition to Olduvai Gorge and 2. those less athletic activities for later in life like wandering the galleries of the Louvre or visiting Venus de Milo or wondering about the mind of Michaelangelo before his 17 foot tall marble masterpiece David at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, or walking Japanese village streets ‘neath cherry trees heavy and pregnant in full blossom.
An excellent plan had I. While I never reached the top of Mount Everest, I am looking forward to the Colosso di Rodi (the Colossus of Rhodes), in Greece and treasures closer to home like Off Broadway in New York City. I’ve always wanted a romantic trip to Trevi Fountain from the 1954 movie Three Coins in the Fountain. Now I have someone I treasure, to share the romance of Trevi, Cinque Terra, perhaps then, on to Paris, Papaeete, Kyoto, Florence ...
So many things to do in a lifetime, so many ways to find ourselves.
Though no one previously suggested placing: “have grandchildren” on my LIFE LIST, I certainly do now that I have two. It is a remarkable experience.
Family is good place to start.
My grown children Leandra, and Jason, have come to possess such remarkable qualities. I never imagined I'd admire them so.
Lea has also brought two breath taking treasures into my life: Samantha, first grandchild and Cameron, first grandson. Since I was a first grandchild I’ve come to understand why my grandparents were so loving, kind and tender with me. There was never a moment in my childhood that lacked for affection.
There was always a lap and a warm and comforting embrace waiting for me. I felt …
unconditional love and it has shaped the person I am today and the man I’ll come to be in the future.
Along the arc of my life, I've included stops along my LIFE'S LIST, and I encourage each of you to stop what you are doing by listing five things to start your LIFE LIST.
Here's one from mine . . .
Watching a gorgeous golden, glittering on South Pacific water-setting sun,
a group of extremely well traveled American’s were having dinner with me
on the little Fijian island: Malolo lai lai.
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