Your Adventures?

I'm joining in on The Spin Cycle, hosted by Sprite’s Keeper. This week everyone is spinning adventure and I loved it so much I had to jump in. My adventure story is not a list of what I have gained but the things I left behind or lost along the way.

10. Lemon Ants. Kebabs. Sangria. Ravioli stuffed with wild mushroom and topped with pine nuts. Garlic stuffed olives. Elderberry Wine. Fried bologna. Shrimp Po' Boys.
9. My body
Lost in a major butt slide on my trip to motherhood. It has not yet been retrieved from the rubble. It was a dangerous trip but I'm glad I ignored the travel advisory.
8. My temper
It is amazing what you can lose without ever leaving the car. Hubby drove in Paris and I spent a large portion of the trip in the floorboard with my hands over my ears belting out "I Will Survive".

7. French fries. Skittles. Chili Cheese Tater Tots, Berlin Chocolates.
All later recovered from the glove box, my road trip cupboard.

6. My Protective Coating.
I started teaching AIDS education at fourteen. My very first presentation was a boy's home. No amount of books and classes prepared me for that gig.

5. Paul curled up in my bed in a hut in the Ecuadorian Rainforest.
He was huge, hairy, intrusive and a complete bed hog. Very similar to hubby with an additional six legs. Mosquito nets work great for keeping mosquitoes out and tarantulas snuggled in with you. YIKES!

4. A dainty girl marked by Polio curled on the porch in a Quichia village.
3. My Miss Priss Badge.
I was such a goody two shoes that I thought "Mary Jane" was some easy girl from another school that all the boys hooked up with. Somewhere along the way I learned that when people say that Michael Phelps "hits the pipe" they aren't talking about exposed indoor plumbing!!
2. My Grandparents.
My stubborn Cherokee eyed grandmother willed herself to death on the way to Grandpa's funeral. She told us she would not go to his funeral and she meant every word. She died from heartache on the way there. We postponed the funeral and they were buried together.

1. My Fearless Nature.
Pain and loss became tangible, solid and ever present somewhere between my first pregnancy and The Berlin Wall.

The picture is of a memorial near Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. It has been removed. It was so simple but haunting. The most lasting moments in my life have been things lost, the things I couldn't keep and they survive in my memory. Some were lost in travel and some were lost in life. The list is endless and ever growing.

Now do you have an adventure list? What's your story?

Cheaper Than Therapy is holding A Thousand Word Thursday if adventure isn't your thing. Go visit and check it out!