I don't want to leave my house
Can I still have an adventure?
It’s not been terribly adventure-y around here lately. When I think about the reasons I started writing in this space, I had big dreams. Those dreams are still there, but I’ve lost some momentum. I’m not feeling very adventure-y.
Maybe it doesn’t help that it’s currently 95 degrees outside with a feels-like temperature of 110. (These are approximates but not really exaggerations.) Or that before that it rained for, like, a month straight. My moods swing with the weather, sometimes, and it’s no secret that I’m not the biggest fan of summer. I do not thrive in extreme heat, and I miss my hoodies.
I have a list of adventures in progress whose only expiration date is the same as my body’s (too dark?) and I have little motivation to act on them.
While listening to the polar memoir After the North Pole by Erling Kagge, I heard this passage that I wanted to remember:
“When sitting at home, it is all too easy to come up with good reasons not to do anything, but when you are out in the wilds, you become more single-minded and think less about sensible reasons for doing what you are doing. … Adventure is all about deliberately making life more difficult than it needs to be, and having far less control over yourself and your surroundings.”
Yeah, see, that’s the problem. I don’t always want to deliberately make my life more difficult. Life is difficult period. Why would I want to add to that?
//
Seventeen years ago in August, Phil and I packed up as many of our belongings as we could fit in a U-haul trailer, my dad’s truck and Phil’s car, along with our 5-month-old daughter and moved from Illinois to Pennsylvania to embark on what would be the continuing adventure of our married life.
We had every intention of bringing my cat Titus with us, but he got super freaked out by all the activity and even though we had drugged him (with veterinary approval), he ran away on moving day, never to be seen or heard from again.
It was incredibly sad, but I don’t know how much I mourned. I had a 5-month-old, no job, no friends, a rental house I hadn’t seen until the day we drove up to it, and a husband who was about to start graduate school. We were broke and lonely and I, at least, was overwhelmed (but also oblivious).
These may be stories for another day, but within a year, I would be pregnant again and soon I’d have two kids under two. A cat may not have survived my divided attention. Or maybe I wouldn’t have survived.
Now that we have teenagers, who are no less work than toddlers but slightly more capable of taking care of themselves, we have been wanting a cat. My son and I have done some cat-sitting at other people’s homes, but it’s just not the same as having your very own pet.
When we first moved in to our rental in Lancaster, our landlord was adamant—no cats. But that was 12 years ago, so one day in April of this year, Phil decided to make a call. It couldn’t hurt to ask if maybe he would change his mind. We’re good renters. We take care of the place. And—it’s been TWELVE years.
Our landlord said yes to getting a cat, and when Phil told us, we all reacted with such glee and the good kind of overwhelm that you might have thought we had won the lottery.
Thus began our latest adventure, one that does not require leaving the house except for the occasional vet visit and shopping trip for supplies.
On Mother’s Day weekend, we adopted this beautiful girl.
She’s a 12-year-old calico named Baby. We kept the name because, well, she’s 12, and I didn’t want to confuse her. Plus, it’s cute and she lives up to it. She is definitely the baby of this family, in every sense of the word.
We are entirely smitten. And still learning about each other. She has made our lives intentionally more difficult (but not by a lot) and still, no regrets.
We all seek her out when we get home from wherever we’ve been. We’re all desperate for her attention. Yes, we’re obsessed with her.
And so, maybe we’re not taking a traditional vacation this year (see: finances and jobs and college visits) and maybe we didn’t get our garden in yet, if at all (see: time and weather) and maybe we’re a teensy bit depressed (see: world events), but we are having an adventure without leaving our house.
It’ll have to do for now.
Where are you finding adventure these days?
She's beautiful! I'm glad you found each other.