Awkward Adventure Girl

I have always been considered awkward. As a child and young adult floors, walls and doors were my enemies. I frequently tripped and fell completely unprovoked. Once I even fell down my apartment stairs while carrying my infant son. Luckily, God made us both flexible and resilient.

My awkwardness was not exclusively about tripping and falling. I seemed to go about my life awkwardly. Not necessarily wrong but more often than not my path to success was crooked and filled with detours. As a younger person I wanted to be like everyone else. I wanted to do something and not feel like it was convoluted. Now, I have come to appreciate my brain sees and responds differently. And that's ok. Some of life's adventures are found on the loops and detours.

In the past I saw adventures only as cool destinations. I love traveling. Seeing new places, different cultures and trying new things has always been at the top of my list. Although those things are still quite important to me, I come to appreciate the adventures of everyday life. Life is its own adventure. Sometimes we are in the middle of an adventure, and we miss it because we are bogged down living life.

Parenting is an entire adventure by itself. We enter the parenting world excited for this new life. A baby, a new beginning. At times we feel bogged down by the day to day. That day-to-day life is the adventure. Living life with a newborn is one of life's wildest adventures. The pushing yourself to new limits, learning of the new and unexpected of caring for this new helpless life morphs us into new beings. This is where we discover sleepless nights, colicky babies and sore boobs test our patience, the ability to function without sleep as well as love beyond measure.

Have you ever been grocery shopping with a toddler? Shopping with a toddler is a character-building mission. Your goal is to get groceries quickly and get home before someone recognizes you in baggy sweats and milk-stained shirt. The toddler on the other hand wants to look at every toy in the toy aisle, find the best hiding spot-under the clothes rack and toss their shoes in impossible to find places of the store. My oldest son was infamous for getting to the car with only one shoe. Eventually, he didn't wear shoes in the store. Too expensive to keep replacing them because I could rarely find them. Speaking of expensive, let's not forget having the grocery budget completely blown by the items you didn't see the toddler grab off the shelf.

OMG, the teen years! If this isn't an adventure of a lifetime, I don't know what is. That beautiful 12-year-old who enjoys watching movies and hanging out with you becomes a mood shifting troll yelling "don't come in my room". We are left wondering where our baby went and if they will return. Instead, we learn to navigate this new world, new person. By the time senior year rolls around we are torn between losing our baby and wanting to pack up their room long before freshman year of college. The struggle between allowing these "pre-adults" the freedom they need to become independent adults and maintaining safety is an all-day job with mandatory overtime. This parenting adventure molds us and our children. It is one of the best and the most underrated adventures.

Another adventure that fails to get much needed respect is daily life; the day-to-day grind. When the alarm goes off in the morning and we are launched into the day, the adventure begins. Seemingly without obvious effort, we get kids off to school; hopefully with homework and lunches intact, continue to strive for success in our work life, pay bills, maintain friendships. We do it all. Life is always an adventure.

We all have many, many awkward adventures. I would love to hear and share your adventures. If you are interested in sharing your awkward adventures with me, send me an email at marnieyarrow@gmail.com. Your awkward adventure can be our feature article.

Can't wait to hear from you!

Marnie Yarrow