Discovering My Own Life; Revisied

Discovering My Own Life

Adventure is defined as an unusual or exciting experience; however, I personally think it’s more then that. Experiences change and shape people. My life is full of adventure; I love to move through life unplanned and on instinct. It brings me joy to discover new things unintentionally.

Books help me discover places I thought I would never get to see, especially autobiographies. I recently read, “If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t) by Betty White. You’d think there was nothing significant about it, but when I look at it, I see way beyond the plain white background. From the start, I was hooked. It seemed as if every time I turned the page, I was running through doors. The doors would open up to another time, place, event, in her life. When it was over, I would grab the next knob and the process would continue. Through 252 pages, I could vividly picture each moment, each emotion, each breath she took.

Angela Carter once said, “Reading a book is like rewriting it for yourself. You bring to a novel, anything you read, all your experience of the world. You bring your history and you read it in your own terms.” It’s funny to think how much life parallels to reading. Through books, you can discover a whole new world or even look further into a world that you are missing out on. Every book I have ever read took me on its own adventure; however, I was really leading the journey myself.

I’ve been on journeys beyond any text I have ever read. My life is full of exciting adventures, especially with my cousin Charlie. He and I decided to visit the mall on a rainy Saturday afternoon. It started out with our first steps off the bus into the shallow puddles of rain. Once we walked through the door, we had unspoken agreement to head to the comic book store.

           One of the escalators was broken and we could not stop hysterically laughing as our imaginations ran wild about why it was in that condition. After the comic book store, we ran around yelling movie titles and artists to each other in FYE. Nothing compares to when we scrolled through posters, making comments on each one. The best part was the fact that we were the only ones who understood our jokes.

The mini adventure in FYE ended with a purchase of strawberry candies. The mall looked evacuated with an exception of a few small groups of teenagers. Charlie and I began to move down the row of stores looking for something interesting. Since the building was close to silent with the lack of people, I could here the roaring thunder; it echoed throughout the bare, plain, white walls. As I pressed on, down the glimmering tiny tiles, I could hear little pitter-patters. It seemed as if the rain was falling right next to my ears. I started to glance up at the skylights taking note of the splattering tears of a storm and the electrifying light, which shined throughout the second floor.
           I have seen plenty of thunderstorms before, but none like this. It was as if the lighting was coming right for us and the dark, mysterious clouds were only intimidating this mall. We kept walking, chatting, and laughing. Our bonding was interrupted when we came across the Halloween store. We turned towards each other and said in sync, “I cannot wait till Halloween!” While we went into detail about my Halloween costume, we came across the bookstore. I decided to pick up an autobiography; I searched past different musicians, politicians, and celebrities to come across, “From This Moment On” by Shania Twain. As soon as I looked at the picture of the brunette country legend, I remembered when I grabbed my hairbrush and sang her songs on the glass coffee table for my “audience.”
           With that purchase, we ate and strolled through the mall. Traditionally, we always sit for hours talking about everything. We are not ones to break a routine; we grabbed a bench and relaxed. As we talked about personal issues, feelings, and secrets, I began to imagine this bench turning into a bubble of trust that only we knew the entrance to. This bubble was unbreakable with a million protective shells containing our deepest conversations. While we were getting wrapped up in each other's lives, we almost did not notice the puddles beginning to submerge through the roof in spots around the entire mall. We did not even realize the fact that half the building was pitch black and the room seemed emptier then before. Apparently the power went out and the only reason we could see was the lightning peaking in and emergency lights. So even though it started out as a regular rainy Saturday, it turned into a memorable and eventful day that I will cherish forever.

Through that mall experience, I learned more about the bond Charlie and I had. I never took the time to notice how alike we are. We love the same shows, movies, food, and music. Of course, family isn’t the only way to experience life or discover new things. Friends have a way of opening your mind to whole new experiences, leading to tons of new adventures.

It was a Saturday morning; Karly and I were heading off to the Arden Theatre in Old City. After hours of becoming someone new and immersing in imagination and creativity in our acting class, we opened the big wooden doors. The exposed sunshine was warm on my face, which added to my happiness. At this point it was about eleven in the morning and Karly and I had an hour to kill. Instead of waiting around forever on the cement steps, we went looking for adventure.

Across the street, I spotted a comic book store. Faster then a cheetah, I ran across the street as if I was playing Frogger. I was greeted with a life size Spiderman welcoming me to this new land. Each wall was covered from top to bottom with colorful covers and victorious heroes of all shapes and sizes. There were so many characters throughout the store; they all screamed, “Pick me!” While looking for the perfect one, each one tended to take me on a different kind of adventure.

After leaving the store, we came to Second Street and looked from left to right. Where to go, where to go… From the corner of my right eye I could see Soho Pizza. After pointing it out to Karly, she remembered being there before. We crossed the street on a search for a great slice of pizza. When you walk through the narrow passageway, you can see the small, yet warm environment. My nostrils filed with the smell of pizza sauce and freshly kneaded dough.

While admiring the autumn colors and empty tables, I almost didn’t hear the man behind the counter. “What can I get you?” he asked, looking confused at the fact that I was staring into space. After ordering, Karly and I sat and ate. I couldn’t help but notice that the guy behind the counter continued to make excuses to come over to our table; as if he wanted to start a conversation but couldn’t. Let’s just say we made a new friend that day. Together we realized that this would be a regular Saturday routine for us; every week, we’d look forward to the weekend.

It is important for me to remember these times when I sat down with a good book and when I enjoyed the company of others because without these individual mini-scenes of my life, I would not be where I am now. Adventure has really shaped my love for new things such as: language, cultures, places, food, etc. It has also taught me to keep an open mind. For these reasons, I will continue to encourage others to take the time to stop thinking and planning every moment because sometimes while in the midst of all the stress you miss out on a lot. Every day is a new opportunity to learn and get everything out of life.