30 Day Writing Challenge 3 - 7/3: If I Were Brave

The full title is "activities I'd do if I were brave" ..... And I've had a few in mind over the years, and a few I'm actually planning out. 

Hang glide -- I have had this crazy vision, dream, what-have-you of me doing this for almost 30 years. I thank Pink Floyd and "Learning To Fly" off A Momentary Lapse of Reason. When you consider that back then, I was waaaay heavier, it seems foolish to picture. But I still have the dream. I want to try it just once. I think for me, it's less a sense of adventure and daring than the idea of having slipped the surly bonds of earth. To feel that sense of freedom in the air..... I need to have that, just once.

"Ink" -- I'd mentioned in one of my April posts that I've been planning a tattoo. I actually contacted a recommended artist and set up a time to consult. Not only did he not show, he hasn't even been in touch since to say, "wow, sorry I missed the appointment " or ANYTHING. So needless to say, that establishment will not be getting my business. But I have a couple of other leads to sniff out. I am scared, yes, but this is important enough for me to suck it up and be brave. With one symbol, I will tell my story, maybe provide some hope and inspiration to someone else, and provide a voice for those who cannot speak their truth, whatever the reason.

Commit to a race -- I used to walk 5K's a good bit. Since the foot surgery, this looks like it will become a distant memory. And my "running dream" -- as vivid and beautiful as my hang-gliding vision -- will most likely not happen either. But I'd like to do just one more race. To try once more to beat my personal best. To say "yes, I did it!" And then take up cycling more seriously. I'd say I was angry about the whole deal but how can I be, when I spent 25 years lucky enough to outrun my diagnosis (osteoarthritis)? It simply caught up with me. I gambled and the house won. 

Open my heart -- speaking of gambling.......

Well, that's about it. With everything else, I'm fairly brave -- let's face it, people marvel that I travel here and there as I please, that I go and do on a whim, and so forth. I reply, "What else should I do, hole up all my life? No thanks, I've seen too many people allow their fears to dictate their activities. I will not."

And so I do my best to live that philosophy. Because honestly, what else is there?