The Adventures of a Part Time Professional Gypsy (and her ginormous teddy thing)

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Life. (Because you're not dead yet)

Once upon a new years eve... in a car bar... because you don't actually have to go out to have fun...

Bungee jumping, licking a president, reproducing, writing a novel, taxidermising a pet, starting an empire, winning a noble prize…  There were so many things I still wanted to do and now it was too late. The engines had roared to life and I soared towards the light.

I always figured “surviving a plane crash” should be the last thing I tick off my bucket list, just in case I didn’t. But life never really works that way - you can’t tell God/ fate/ Murphy what to do; and even karma doesn’t always behave. 

I gripped my seat and exchanged life accomplishment regrets with the random stranger next to me. She’d gone whiter than I had, and apparently she was actually Indian… 

We were going down fast. This was the end.  We hit the ground. Bounced. Bounced. Bounced again. And then, after two hours of absolute terror, it all came to an end. Random stranger and I flung arms around each other – we’d survived our overly dramatic imaginations.  

What ensued was an awesome reunion with good friends old and new; the most incredible weekend in the Drakensburg, and then a reunion with my ‘long’ lost boat crew - All things that would have been terrible to have missed out on had the plane actually gone down.

The Drakensburg
I also reunited myself with buckie, my seasick companion... we'll be as close as ever  soon enough (I hope)
Sometimes you need near death experiences (or perceived ones at least) to remind you to live more – It’s like when you lose your tooth brush for a month and then, after finding it again, suddenly havefriends again. And even though I’ve now been in Richard’s Bay [where it appears to be fashionable to have 8-12 teeth missing] a week, waiting for one small sail part to be repaired, it’s not so bad – there’s the beach, there’s beer, I’ve learned how to carpet a floor, met some of the strangest people imaginable, and had a rather therapeutic killing rampage…  -although I do still hope to leave soon!

Our lives are short enough as it is, so we really ought to be seizing every second: Doing instead of just talking about it; Running away from regret; Attempting the impossible; Frequently facing fears; making sure you have good stories for the grandkids some day; Making sure you have grandkids some day; Always going to bed happy [when we have time for sleep].

Lick a jellyfish...

Climb a cliff...

Go clubbing barefoot (actually wait - this is not recommended)

Jump off an oil rig

Drink artificially coloured drinks that look like they may poison you... unless of course they are poison , then don't, it's probably best to check first.
My cousin and his wife gave birth to their second kid yesterday…  And I was a little jealous that tiny Cuan had the whole of the rest of his life to live. But then I realized: so does everyone else

If you’re not living, you’re actually dead.