Adventuring Close at Hand
Sometimes the most innocent of trips develops into an adventure. I remember when we first brought our girls, Mariatu and Sia, here from Sierra Leone, West Africa, we discovered there were a couple of African stores in downtown Kansas City. That, of course, necessitated a trip or two there. So, we’d pile into my car and head for the big city. (We lived in Raymore, MO, at that time.) Prior to these jaunts, my trips to the big city usually meant to Bannister or Oak Park Malls.
This was prior to everyone carrying a cell phone, or cars equipped with GPS. I just looked it up in the phone book and off we went! As we drove (and drove, and drove), one of the ladies would sweetly ask, “Mom, are we lost?” To which I would respond with a smile pasted on my face, “NO! WE’RE GOING ON AN ADVENTURE!!!”
Now let me digress, momentarily, to state a few facts.
1) We were originally from down in the Ozark mountains.
2) The town we lived nearest had a population of 386.
3) Despite the fact that our military travels led us to Colorado Springs, Phoenix, St. Louis, etc., I never spent a lot of time “in the city”.
4) When girls were ready to shop for African food, I wasn’t supposed to waste time adventuring.
Back to present time.
Life is vastly different now. Everybody has a cell phone. Cars come with GPS. And I’m 20+ years older and feebler. Now Maria has four brilliant, talented, and beautiful children (1 graduating this year), and she gets around like nobody’s business and, if she doesn’t feel like it, her husband, Jeff, can. Sia has a lively, bright, opinionated 7-year-old daughter and not much gets past either of them. They are such free spirits that they just get up and go wherever they set their minds to go.
I had a fun ride with Sia recently. She and Malika had come up to visit for a couple of days. As they were preparing to leave, I rode down to the closest filling station to top off their tank and enjoyed laughing and talking with them.
All at once, history repeated itself. From the back seat, Malika asked, “Mom? Are we lost?” Sia plastered the biggest smile on her face and answered, “Are we lost? No, my dear, we’re going on an adventure!” Like mother like daughter?