Skip to main content

31 Days: Brave


About a month ago, I made a trip to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. It is 250 miles south of the Artic Circle at 62.4540° N, 114.3718° W. That's way north. It took me 12 hours of traveling to get there. I was terrified. I'm not afraid of flying, I was afraid of going all that way by myself. Of navigating 3 airports, of finding a hotel shuttle, and visiting a new city on my own. But I did it and look at how my bravery was rewarded. I saw the Northern Lights.

For the most part, I did just fine navigating by myself. I did take a wrong turn in the Calgary airport when heading to the gate and was met with locked doors and the fear of missing my plane but I took comfort in the fact that 3 other people had done the same thing.

I also survived being the first on the agenda of the conference for earth science editors, the purpose for my trip to Yellowknife. 


I had some of the best fish and chips of my life, twice, in this place called Bullocks' Bistro.



I saw this plane land on water.




And this crazy road that has been reshaped by the ice underneath it.


I also got to spend some time with a person who makes me laugh constantly and another person who may be one of the sweetest people on the planet. And did I mention...



I SAW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!

I am so glad I was brave enough to go it alone and spend 12 hours on a total of 3 planes. The experience and the boost to my self-esteem for doing it were almost as priceless as seeing the Northern Lights. Almost. I'm going to be brave more often.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Five Minute Friday: Time

Five Minute Friday is a writing event that has writers spending five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing them at http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/ . This week's word is Time. Sometimes time feels like this, like we are in it. Standing inside it, watching life pass by. It is so easy to get stuck in a time - in our pain, in our hurt. We hear the ache tick away in our head like a giant clock. Time, instead, is a gift. More time with family, more time to accomplish goals, more time to see the world. When you are hurting, it seems like time takes forever. One day turns into another day, turns into another day. When we hate a job, the five days of time that make up a work week seem to go on forever. But those five days are also a gift. Because these days, a job is not a guarantee. I want to see time as gift, not as a chore. I want to be on the other side of it, wishing there was more of it. Making the most of every hour, minute, and second instead of

Five Minute Friday: Roots

Lisa-Jo Baker (lisajobaker.com) hosts a weekly event on her blog called "Five Minute Friday". The rules are 1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking. 2. Link back here and invite others to join in. 3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.. So here's my first try at this. Today's topic was Roots. Roots – I think about my grandparents who lived on a farm until my grandfather’s diabetes worsened and they moved to a town with a hospital nearby. My father still says he wished he could have kept that farm. I think of my grandmother who was a widow for 20 years. Every year she would stand over my PaPa’s grave, wishing she was with him. I think of my parents, a product of those grandparents, how hard my father worked to put 2 girls through

Five Minute Friday: Mercy

Mercy, this is a tough one for me. I think that's why I waited until Saturday to do Five Minute Friday. I didn't want to face the topic of mercy. I am thankful everyday for God's tender mercies. The first definition of mercy that came up when I googled the word was compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.  This definitiion is my life in a nutshell. How many times has God extended this to me when I deserved to be turned into a pillar of salt like Lot's wife. How many times have I ignored his laws and his proddings and done exactly what I wanted to do. Every time he forgives me and prospers me. Every. time. I know there are people I should show mercy to. People who have broken my heart into more pieces than I can count. I think that I am showing mercy by keeping my disappointment in silence. In a day and age with social media, I could have told everyone that follows them how they have hurt me but I ha