More Adventure

I'm sitting in bed with my computer on my lap, my very uneven lap. My left leg has substantially less muscle mass than my right leg. It went first, so it's lost more. My left side has been ahead of my right side throughout this disease process, whether legs, core muscles, arms, shoulder or neck. Even my mouth has followed that pattern; my word formation issues and the biting of my lip and tongue are all worse on my left side.

Notwithstanding these immediate observations, I am at a minimum sitting up, still writing, listening to the ceaseless pounding of the surf, able to gaze out at a seemingly limitless horizon of ocean. Katherine has been busy this morning, peeling oranges for our drive, packing food into cooler cases, packing her luggage. I am now officially the only delay in the morning process.

We start on another adventure today, headed even further down the Oregon Coast, our goal being Gold River. Along the way we'll go through Coos Bay, stop by the Sea Lion Caves, and most likely stop for any number of pictures. Katherine will hop out of the truck here and there, while I remain in, unwilling to fight with the transfer to my wheelchair in order to see another view of the ocean.

Each of us is having our own adventure. It is a reality of life that each of us will have our own adventure, regardless of who we share that adventure with or who we share it. Life is such an individual voyage, completely perceived from within ourselves. The same views, the same sounds, the same smells; each of us interprets them through our own filters, compares them with our own internal palette of memory.

I cannot speak to Katherine's adventure on this trip. I know she is enjoying it. I can see her smiling, exploring, excited with her pictures and experiences. Yet I don't know what she is feeling inside, how this trip is impacting her within. That is the nature of the human adventure, that so much of it happens inside ourselves.

As for me, I am still here, still driving, still laughing, still loving. This is the greatest part of my adventure.