“Adventure is worthwhile.” – Aesop
My first introduction to society was played out by a fox and a crow. As children, life lessons were doled out by wolves and swans and frogs. Aesop’s Fables formed the most vivid connection in my young mind as to what was right, what was wrong and certainly what was worthwhile. My mind still goes to the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, Tortoise and the Hare and The Boy who Cried Wolf. I don’t know where kids today get their lessons about setting off false alarms and ruining your credibility or the advice I repeat often that slow and steady wins the race, or the warning I personally heed regarding spending your life trying to be a fancy city mouse when it’s the country mouse that’s happier!
My brother and I got these lessons from a beautifully illustrated version of Aesop’s Fables. We didn’t know that these tales were conceived out of the mind of a slave from ancient Greece, someone born 620 BCE. What we did instinctively recognize is that these stories made sense and it was clear to both of us who was the brightest, most honorable person in the tale and clear as day who were the fools of the tales such as the poor greedy idiots that killed the goose that laid the golden eggs!
When I saw the statement attributed to Aesop, I was not surprised that he had offered up such a simple but powerful protestation. Adventure is worthwhile for many reasons, one being that there are so many adventures to be had. Like the magnet on my refrigerator says, life is not measured by how many breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away.
One thing that took my breath away this week was the view from high up in the air as I flew out of town. From the Delta Airliner I saw the place we call home, that breathtaking view of Woodford County, the emerald green grass, the barns situated between rolling hill after rolling hill, the mansions, the trees and the creeks. This is home and I am so proud and thankful that God put me here, that he or whatever forces chose for me to be born right here at the Versailles hospital. Now wherever I may roam, I will always know this translucent piece of land is where it was decided that I be dropped in the beginning. I had a head start right away. Before the adventure had begun it was already worthwhile to see home from a different vantage point.
Then came the smorgasbord of faces and personalities, countless snippets of lives I witnessed from airport to plane to airport to plane, Bluegrass to Detroit to Salt Lake City to Helena, Montana. For a happy homebody like myself who only sees Main, Green and Elm Streets in Versailles, traveling to the bookstore and back home again, the only people I come in contact with are my family and the sweet readers that visit Rabbit House Books & Notions. By my final destination I was full and the adventure was already worthwhile.
Now I am sitting in a motel room in a lodge in Lincoln, Montana, the historic Lincoln Lodge, to be exact. It’s snowing outside my window and what looks to be about five feet on the ground. I am waiting for my call time when I will wander next door to the make-up room for the Independent movie Ted K about Ted Kazinski, the infamous Unibomber. I walked up the log sided hallway this morning to get a cup of coffee and passed the actor playing Ted, Sharlto Copely, who I recognized from District 9, Maleficent and Elysium. His head was down and he didn’t acknowledge me, in character for the socially awkward hermit, the mathematical genius turned elusive terrorist. It’s okay, he’ll have to talk to me soon enough. I play Carol, a real estate agent and one of Ted’s few friends. I’m looking forward to our chat.
I’m also looking forward to coming home but it has been very interesting meeting the locals of this one street town in the middle of the Montana mountains, one street, eight bars and many stories, that is. The woman who runs the place, whose name is also Erin, was just passing through Lincoln with her boyfriend. He took off and left her here with nothing, his body was found two days later. Erin got a job at the Lincoln Lodge, managing the fourteen-room motel with the couple who had just bought it. She bartends, cooks, takes care of the rooms, guests and happily sits out front and smokes. Her kids are grown and doing their own thing, she told me she loves it and is never leaving. I believe her. I met the husband of the couple that own the place, his name is Roy, he is in his forties and was in the Army, stationed in South Korea for five years. He was also stationed here in Kentucky. He has a limp that my friend said he didn’t have a month ago. Yesterday afternoon the police and Sherriff were all here on a call for a person having a mental breakdown, apparently it was Roy’s wife but it’s all hush hush what really happened.
We mind our business and get on with the task of making an Independent Film. Everyone in town is friendly and helpful, offering all kinds of services while guarding special secrets. They all remember Ted, their most famous resident but there seems to be no lack of drama in their current lives.
So yes Aesop, adventure is worthwhile. I’m going to take this one forever with me and safely lock it up in my assorted box of memories.