Today was good.

Juneau pulled me on a sled.
So did Walter.
Jamal went sledding for the first time in his life.

We all trekked about a mile down the road to the Keigley's home, and after shedding my snowclothes I was quickly convinced by three beautiful children to re-don the bundle and return to the snow.

The kids were on sleds. I was either pushing, pulling, running, or some combination of the three. We were all laughing.

After round two of snowplay I entered into a ridiculously loud game of Pit with the adult crowd. Again, we were all laughing.

Then I sat on a couch with friends and tied an old blanket back together while watching some show about the E.R.

After the show Jeff drove me back home in the Bobcat while Laura sat on my lap.

This day was one of the best I have had in a very long time. And there wasn't anything incredibly adventurous about it. I didn't travel to any far off land. I didn't return with loads of pictures. I didn't plan some extravagant logistics spreadsheet and stock up on dehydrated food. I simply joined some wonderful people in playing.

What made today so special? Love. That's all. Just people, gathered together, having fun, sharing love. This is family. This is adventure. This is noteworthy.


This is life.

What do you do?

One of my favorite (read: hated) questions is "What do you do?" As a young twenty-something who seems to be meeting new people around every corner, it is a question I'm asked...often. To this day I have never come up with a truly decent answer. It's because I fight the battle of finding identity within "what I do" that this question is so terrible. See it's not a simple question about occupation for me. This overpowering request for information enters my ears as "What are you doing with your life? Be careful what you say, for I will most definitely judge your entire person based on your answer."

Because of the terror that plagues my being when asked this one simple question, I have spent many a moment trying to come up with a good way to answer. I'm sure that all of this thought over one simple conversation-starting question seems a bit unnecessary, but I tend to over think many an irrelevant issue. So I think about it. A lot. Earlier this week I was asked this very question in a small group, get-to-know-ya kind of setting. My answer?

Hi. I'm Torrye. I graduated from North Greenville, and right now I watch kids.

Really?

I watch kids?

Anyone know of a busy playground? or the latest in binoculars?

Wow. The embarrassment that followed this utterance was, well, embarrassing. People noticed the creepiness of my comment, and talked about it. Not in a rude way...just jokingly. But still, my response was talked about. And my entire goal had been to answer in the most simple way possible in order to avoid drawing any extra attention my direction.

Mission: failed.

Moral of the story? Extreme amounts of deliberation over this one question are quite ridiculous, and don't guarantee delivery of a "normal" first impression.

Aah. That's really the key isn't it? Too much thought about what others think leads to despair. OK so despair might be a bit dramatic. Just go with it. We care too much about the impression we give. Yes, there is something to be said for conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of respect. But there is also something to be said for simply doing what you do and being content with(if not proud of)it.

Some people I know are doing exactly what they wanted to be doing in life. They are stable financially. They live in only one place. Their cars start up every morning like clockwork.

They are sometimes happy and sometimes sad.

Others are more like myself,wandering around a bit, moving from one thing to the next. They can't always make ends meet. They don't stay in one place for very long. They don't have the most reliable transportation.

They are sometimes happy and sometimes sad.

This is life. We do what we can to get by, and hopefully a little more.

Sometimes we are happy.
Sometimes we are sad.
Sometimes we are surrounded by love.
Sometimes we are lonely.
Sometimes we are proud of what we tell others.
Sometimes we are embarrassed.


"Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."

Thanks Paul.

Plain and simple: All of my effort in regulating the impression I leave on others is worthless. Their thoughts don't matter. His do, and He loves me...always.End of story.

Adventurer's Plight

Hello All! It seems that I have been sucked into the world of the blogger (at least temporarily). This is my second attempt at a first posting, as the first attempt was sadly deleted. That now non-existent first post was very well written and I was quite proud of it, and I'm gonna give it another go, but I have a feeling this second post will not have quite the same exquisiteness as the first. Forgive me. Read on if you wish.

The basic idea begins with one simple fact. I am an adventurer. I have made a habit of traipsing around the country (and occasionally outside of it) doing things that not a lot of people do...and not a lot of people really want to. This is what I love. This is what I crave...constantly.

My heart is truly satisfied when I am in some beautiful, foreign place with a good friend. We hike, paddle, bike, and often just sit in a location that is new. We exhaust our bodies. Sleepiness overrides the desire to be a polite people pleaser. Emotions, thoughts, questions, and doubts are laid bare for all to see. Things inevitably get tougher than I thought they would. At some point or points I will mention the fact that only crazy people live my life and find it enjoyable. And I doubt that I actually do enjoy it. But truth be told, at the end of every excursion I return with pictures, videos, and stories that I am all too happy to share with friends who quickly tire of my ramblings.

I love to share my experiences because it is during those moments that I feel most alive. It is when I'm doing something I didn't think I could handle that I finally feel as if I'm worth being around. The trouble with these adventures...coming back. See I've recently been pondering my love for exciting travels, and have as a result come to realize that I search for life in the things I'm doing. I live in adrenaline pumping moments. And the moments in between accomplishments are...well...nothing more than in between.

That's a lot of moments! That is a sum of many days that I view as wasted. Days that I feel weren't really worth living. Days that I don't think really fit into the big picture of my life.

Sad.

Very sad.

But I'm coming to see that there is no such thing as an "in between" phase in this life that I've been given. Every moment, whether I find it adventurous or not, is a moment in my life. And no matter how insignificant I may feel a time in life is, it is still just that. A time in life. Yes dear friends, life does continue even if noteworthy, endorphin-inducing moments are few and far between.

So here's the idea: Life-real life-is not found only in once-in-a-lifetime adventures. It is also found (and I propose found more prominently) in tiny moments that we may not see as worth mentioning. God did not create us to waste away the majority of our days waiting for the next big thing. We are not thumb-twiddlers who sit around oh so impatiently until something "worthwhile" comes our way. We are adventurers. People who live every day as if it actually matters because in reality...it does.

The goal for this tiny online snippet of my spider web brain is to use this blog that I have somehow been convinced to create as a means of recognizing and sharing small moments in life that actually matter. It seems that my travels have been suspended for a bit, so "small" moments are likely to abound.

Ah well, as I feared, this sad attempt at conveying my intended message did not come across with the same conciseness and power as I had originally typed. I'm tempted to keep typing in hopes that some of my original writing will make its way into this post, but we all know that our brains only want to read so many words at a time, and chances are I have already pushed past that limit. So tata for now friends.

Go live.