Camp Awesome

Please help me welcome Meghan Hill as today's Wednesday's Guest. When I reviewed her book, Making Room for You, on Sunday, I thought she was going to give us more tips about how to clear up the clutter in our homes, but this story is much more entertaining. And maybe the book has all the tips we need. When you finish reading about her adventure on the river, hop over to The Blood Red Pencil if you have a moment. I'm doing my monthly humor post over there, and a good chuckle might get you over the hump. If you need more laughs, you might want to check out the Hump Day Funnies that LD Masterson does every Wednesday. In the meantime, grab your beverage of choice to go along with the scones, sit back, and enjoy Meghan's story.

Don’t ever set out to “float” the Yakima River in Washington State with 14 people and weighed-down canoes rented from a local university. Don’t start several miles upriver where signs caution that the waters are too wild for watercrafts and human beings. I did and the group and its friendships barely survived. 

Years ago, shortly before the 4^th of July, my ex-husband and 12 of our friends set out for a three-day river trip. We loaded the canoes with sleeping bags, tents, backpacks, bins of food, coolers, and enough beer to keep a small city drunk for weeks. It was immediately clear we hadn’t thought out what the weight of our bodies and excessive stuff would do to the canoes, which sunk into the river, barely clearing the surface by an inch.

Late in the day, we set sail. We didn’t need the warning signs, as experience taught us we were in trouble. Five minutes on the water and oars flew out of people’s hands. Two of the four canoes tipped, tossing people and flotsam downriver. One man in a lone kayak whirled out of control in the strong eddies. A couple of women almost drowned. We tried to right ourselves and the same scene played out once again before some of the guys said we ought to pull out of the river to shore and think.

We set up camp along the river that night and spent the evening discussing our predicament over cans of Coors Light and Gardetto’s. It was clear that the women in the group were not amused, full of fear and angry at their boyfriends and spouses for putting them in harm‘s way. I found myself identifying more with the men in the group, sensing adventure and an opportunity to conquer fear.

The next morning, as we prepared to set out, I was chosen to ride solo in the kayak as all the other men needed to physically and emotionally protect their women. Day two proved just as disastrous as the evening before. We lost sunglasses, car keys, wallets, sleeping bags, clothing, and cases of beer to the river as boats tipped over and swirled us every which way downriver.

I almost drowned that day until my friend Jake swam to the edge of the river and held out an oar for me to grab onto. After hours of canoes tipping, losing more belongings, and several more near-drownings we pulled off the river again to set up camp for the night. You never saw a more solemn bunch. Sunburned, mosquito-bitten folks. We had scrapes all over our faces and shoulders from getting caught along the sides of the river where the current pulled us and our canoes toward sharp, dry tree branches lining the bank. We couldn’t have a fire because we selected a spot in tall, dry grass. We glumly realized most of us would be sleeping out in the open as we’d lost our sleeping bags in the constant boat tippings.

My friend Tom asked a couple of us to go for a walk with him. He said, “I know people are angry and scared. But I think this is awesome. This is Camp Awesome. This is a great adventure.”

I agreed wholeheartedly and felt I’d be a jerk if I said that aloud to the rest of the group, who were obviously miserable. We finished our river trip the next day and made it back to our cars alive. Everyone was more than ready to go home, cursing the poor planning and communication that defined the trip. I personally relished the experience. It tested us and revealed our qualities and responses to danger and disaster. Despite the fear, the fights, the tears, I felt strong and stoic and marveled at how rarely we take risks or welcome them. People couldn’t leave fast enough and I was eager to know how soon we could plan to set out on the river again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meghan Hill’s expertise as a professional organizer, lifetime of writing, and years of studying self-development culminated in Making Room for You, her first book. Organizing for over 100 clients in Los Angeles, often overhauling entire homes and commercial offices and acting as a personal coach, has given her invaluable insight into the process of organizing and allowed her to gain a deeper understanding of what people need to sustain an orderly and serene environment. Her countless day jobs and exploration of what it means to be human is endless fodder for her imagination and writing. Born in Seattle, Meghan now lives in Walla Walla, Washington. She is currently mining her 87 journals for a series of books to publish.

Book Review - Propinquity by John Macgregor

You may notice that my schedule is off as this should have posted yesterday on my regular review day. As I mentioned the other day, I am dealing with a family medical issue and my time at the computer is limited. Since I had this review done, I figured I should go ahead and post it.

Propinquity 

John Macgregor

File Size: 584 KB

Print Length: 373 pages

Page Numbers Source ISBN: 148418601X

Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited

Publisher: John Macgregor (October 30, 1986)

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Language: English

Before reading this book the first thing I had to do was look up the word "propinquity" as I was not sure what it meant, and therefore was not sure what the book's main focus was going to be. It all became clear when I found one definition: The propinquity effect is the tendency for people to form friendships or romantic relationships with those whom they encounter often, forming a bond between subject and friend.

The story is about a group of Oxford students who stumble on the perfectly preserved body of a 13th Century queen, buried deep under Westminster Abbey. The queen held Gnostic secrets suppressed by the Church. The group discovers she may not be dead, but suspended between life and death by a rare herb. Some of that plotting was a bit thin for me, but the group of characters were interesting and engaging. Clive, the narrator and his best friend Julian Lake, are central to the story, as is Samantha, who first introduces Clive to the buried queen.

In the first quarter of the book, I thought there was too much back story about the young men and their various interests and travels, but once the story really got going in their quest to find what secrets are under Westminister Abbey and the truth about Queen Berengaria, Richard the Lionheart's Queen, the pacing was better.

The book has been compared to The Da Vinci Code, and there are similarities in plot: secret religious groups that work to keep their teachings alive, a race against the Church hierarchy and the police who are trying to keep the protagonists from revealing that secret, and a romance that develops between the two central characters.

I enjoyed the book, as it is a good adventure written with considerable wry humor and bits of philosophy. At one point Lake writes to Clive in a letter: "I suppose the distinction has been made, now, forever, between what I have and what I am: losing what you have tends to show you what you are. Maybe that's why some bereaved people never recover."   

Propinquity won the 1986 Adelaide Festival Biennial Award for Literature and it was also shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year in 1987. The author had a long career in journalism, writing for the New York Times, and winning a major investigative journalism award for unraveling a real-life conspiracy by the FBI. 

Book Review - One Year Lived by Adam Shepard

One Year Lived
Adam Shepard
Paperback: 288 pages
$13.78
Publisher: Scratch Beginnings Press (April 11, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0979692644
ISBN-13: 978-0979692642

People have always journeyed as a means to a greater self awareness, as well as a greater understanding of the world and how their lives fit in the overall larger picture. This has been true of the Aborigines in Australia who do a Walkabout, which is a rite of passage that takes an adolescent on a journey into the wilderness for six months. American Indians have had similar rites of passage, as have many other native people of different countries.

In Western civilization, the practice is not even considered, as adolescents go through a more practical rite that includes education, higher education, then jobs and responsibilities.

Adam Shepard decided some time ago that he should take a year of his life and have some of the mind-broadening experiences that might make him a better man. He didn't do it because he was dissatisfied with his life. He just thought why wait until some unknown time way in the future after the job and the family to do some of the things he'd always thought about. While he did not go out into the wilderness, he did travel and introduce himself to new people and new cultures and new languages. He also tasted many forms of adventure from fighting bulls to installing wells to mustering cattle and hugging a Koala. Oh, and don't forget bungee jumping.

The book is written in a light, easy-to-read style that has an edge of humor that often made me smile. In the beginning it was a bit repetitive on explaining where he was going and why, but I did get caught up in his first experience in Antigua, Guatemala, where he'd gone to improve his Spanish and traveled on the 'chicken bus.' That was enough to carry me through the rest of the book.

In addition to just enjoying the romp, there are lessons to be learned by reading the book. The biggest perhaps, is how important it is not to put things off. We can't all take a year off to experience adventures like Adam did, but we can do those little things that bring us joy. Make the time to connect with family and friends. Make the time to enjoy a favorite hobby for an afternoon. Don't be so locked into responsibilities that we never sprinkle a little fun into our days.

Adam will be my guest this coming Wednesday. He will be sharing a bit about his time in the arena with a bull, and I do hope you can come back and help him feel welcome.