New Adventures

I suppose I have always loved a good adventure, and have had an adventurous spirit by nature. It must be the newness or the freshness of it. And then there is the inherent challenge that lay at the heart of it. What lies ahead, around the bend. When I am off on a new trail which I have never trod, it's what is around that next turn in the path that spurs me on. And if someone started off with me, but whose interest waned before mine, it's when I can no longer hear their call behind me, bidding me to come back, that causes me to realize that there is something deeper in my breast, than in their's, that keeps urging me onward. It's this spirit that causes me to climb all the way to the top of an old lighthouse, no matter how many steps, or how arduous the task may be, or how many times I may have to pause to catch my breath.

And there is the burning desire to see the view from the top of a high hill, or a mountain. There is a sense that I might miss some grander gaze, some distant aspect from that elevated stance.

Well into the latter part of my life, I was challenged by a new adventure, one unlike many others which I had taken on. It was the learning to play a different musical instrument than I had become accustomed to playing, even if ever so inefficiently. This instrument and the playing of it, and the unusual intonations of it, had always fascinated me. My desire finally got the best of me, so I proceeded to borrow an old violin from a friend, just to see how it would feel, how it would sound, and just how challenging it would be in my hands. Having always played every other instrument I have tried to learn "by ear", I used this same metheod with this instrument. Lo and behold, a melody came out, and another, and then another. My goal from the beginning had been just to play for my own enjoyment. I have found that to become the reality of what occured. The richness of my enjoyment of playing this very complicated instrument has far surpassed the quality of my actual playing of it. And there are more bends in the path of this adventure which lay ahead for me to follow. I may not take those turns in the way or keep striving to reach greater heights, but I have truly and am still enjoying the musical scenery along the way.