Friday, November 22, 2013

Confessions from my Big Adventure to New England

I posted these confessions of my big adventure on Facebook first, one a day after returning from my most amazing trip. I thought I'd post them here, too, since these are what kind of instigated the whole blog thing, most notably the title.

At any rate, these are my ten trip confessions. I started with number 10 because it's the most important ones. The rest are frivolous and/or silly, with a little bit of depth thrown in. They are all true, 100%. Maybe a little hyperbole here and there, but nothing blatantly false.


Dana's Big Adventure Confession #10: I honestly did not know if I would get to New England until I stepped off the train in Massachusetts, into the waiting arms of my dear sweet friend Heather Drake. Not because I didn't want to (I did), but because as someone who lives with chronic pain, bipolar, and severe anxiety, I was scared to death of getting hurt, or lost, or embarrassed because I had a meltdown in unfamiliar territory. But I'm here to tell you, not only did I survive, but having worked through all the fears (both real and imagined), I feel empowered by it. This was my first big leap on my own, swimming totally into uncharted waters. What kept me going was knowing I had a safe harbor at both ends of the journey. And now that I've done the (almost) impossible, watch out. I may start actually venturing out in other ways that I believed were too "risky" before. 

Dana's Big Adventure Confession #9: Because my knees actually hit the door in the train bathroom, I almost always used the handicapped water closet.


Dana's Big Adventure Confession #8: I renewed my passport before leaving and brought it with me, just in case I decided to keep going!

Dana's Big Adventure Confession #7: I farted in the jacuzzi! 

Dana's Big Adventure Confession #6: I brought home with me every single complimentary item at my disposal (i.e. shampoos, soaps, notepads, pens, and all the coffee and tea sundries I didn't use).

Dana's Big Adventure Confession #5: When circling the sample table at the Cabot Cheese Shop in Vermont, I used the same toothpick more than once per cheese chunk (the toothpick has two ends, duh!)

Dana's Big Adventure Confession #4: In Vermont, it seemed fairly common-place for someone to reply to my "hello" with "Whatta ya know?", which is what the guy on the left said to me. Being the literalist that I am, I replied, "I know it's a beautiful day for laying carpet!" WHICH IS WHAT THEY WERE ACTUALLY AND FOR REAL DOING. Honestly, the one on the right just about choked on his toothpick. And the other guy bummed a smoke from me when they took their break 20 minutes later. (I cannot make this stuff up. Well, I could. But I'm not.)


Dana's Big Adventure Confession #3: my seat mate from DC to Chicago had obviously managed to sneak on a bottle of vodka. She was drinking it out of a coffee travel mug. When she left her seat to go to dinner, I took a swig. Just because it smelled really good and I was curious.

Dana's Big Adventure Confession #2: I thought about purposely missing my train so I could continue the adventure.

Dana's Big Adventure Confession #1: While at Union Station in Chicago, I was actually naked for a few minutes. (I'd been on a train for approximately 28 hours. I lugged everything into a handicapped stall, stripped down, used wet wipes to take a layer of filth off, reapplied deodorant and make up, and changed my clothes. It felt very weird and a little scary, but oh-so-refreshing!)

Here's the bottom line: I would do this vacation again in a heartbeat. It was so fun. It was empowering. It was exciting. It was miserable. It was joyous. And now, I feel like I can do ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING

And, I confess, I plan to try doing just that with the rest of my life (everything). 

Cheers!

1 comment:

  1. LOVED reading these on FB and loved reading them again and being reminded of the fun & growth you experienced on your trip!!!

    ReplyDelete