June 10, 2008
Just because
Written by Shirley Karr in Jaunty PostHave you ever done something just for the experience? You don’t intend to pursue it as a hobby or career, but you just want to experience it, at least once?
A few years ago a fellow member of my RWA chapter suggested we volunteer to answer phones during a pledge drive for Oregon Public Broadcasting. At the time my family wasn’t watching much OPB, especially during what my husband referred to as their “begathons” but I signed up for the shift anyway. Hubby couldn’t figure out why. I had no burning desire to be seen on TV – those pesky 10 lbs the camera adds, y’know – and I didn’t plan to pursue employment in the field.
We’re helping a good cause, I explained. And when I got home I was able to tell him about the totally awesome backstage tour we received while the real program was airing and the phones weren’t ringing. They showed us the editing bays and studios, explained how the cameras and TelePrompter work, all kinds of interesting things. Way cool. Yes, I write historical fiction but you never know what bits of knowledge are going to come in handy. And I just have always liked knowing behind-the-scenes stuff.
My dad lives in San Felipe, Mexico, a fishing village three hours south of the border with a large population of American retirees. When we first visited him five years ago, I went flying with a guy I met on the beach. Seriously.
Ralph landed his ultralight glider on the packed sand, and in exchange for fifty bucks he took me up and we flew south on the coast before heading back. He even shut off the engine so we could glide along with the gulls, no sound but the wind rushing past. I just wanted to know what it was like to fly that way. (Mind-blowing awesome experience, btw.) And Dad had told us all about Ralph and his struggle to get the proper licenses and insurance coverages to operate his flying business, so it wasn’t as harebrained an idea as it first sounds.
(No, Ralph’s legs aren’t in the shade — his are really that dark and mine are really that pale.) I would have flown again on our last visit but the winds were too strong and Ralph was grounded. My husband was disappointed that he didn’t get to go, but delighted that I didn’t since we later learned I was about a month pregnant at the time. He still shudders when he thinks how we went riding across sand dunes on quads. But Daniel turned out fine.
Through a convoluted chain of events, I ended up being the one behind the wheel when we crossed the border into Mexico. We got caught in rush hour traffic as darkness fell on a Friday just before Christmas, in a town with few road signs, which were in a language we understood only a few words, where the local custom frequently had three vehicles across two lanes. My husband needed a Valium but I kept thinking how I could use this experience. What if my heroine needs to drive a carriage in a foreign city? Now I know how she’d feel.
I’ve done other things just to see if I could, like volunteer to be foreperson when I was called for jury duty (it felt like being a referee, or herding cats). Even though I can’t cook, one summer as a teen I ran the french fryer at our church’s restaurant booth at the county fair instead of playing waitress, my usual role.
Sometimes when opportunities arise I hesitate at first because it calls for me to step outside my comfort zone. But I find the more I step outside it, the bigger my comfort zone gets.
Have you ever done something just for the experience?
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EmilyMcKay Says:
A zip line canopy tour in Costa Rica. And I’m terrified of heights!