Dealing With Stuff
  • Dealing With Stuff
  • About
  • Contact

Review: I Married Adventure

3/12/2015

 
Picture
I Married Adventure; Looking at Life Through the Lens of Possibility, by Luci Swindoll.

The title of this book appealed to me immensely.  Marriage is an adventure in its own right, and even more so when you marry a man who is willing to live in a tent with you for weeks at a time.  Luci Swindoll’s book is actually about choosing adventure instead of marriage.  Awesome, right?  Considering that she made that decision circa 1950, with an engagement ring on her hand, it is astounding.

What I liked best about this book is that it was published when the author was 70, and she’s 82 now and has written other books since.  It’s a sort of scrapbook, with pictures and illustrations and journal entries from her entire life.  She reflects on her conscious decisions to be independent, to get an education, to have her own career, to sing in the opera, to travel the world, to write books, and to buy her own house.  She writes about how journaling and making written goals helped her live her dreams.  Much of the book is filled with her testament to her Christian faith, which made me a little squirmy, although I had to ask myself if I would feel the same discomfort if she wrote about being Hindu or Buddhist or Baha’i or anything else.  I definitely felt like we were kindred spirits.

One chapter of the book discusses Swindoll’s regrets about her life.  She regrets not getting more formal education, not having a pet, not learning other languages, never living in Europe, and not learning to play the piano.  Then it transpires that she’s started taking piano lessons.  This chapter was very moving for me.  I’m 30 years younger than she was, and that’s enough time to do all those things.  (I have almost always had pets, and it’s hard to imagine not having animals around.  The holes they make in our hearts when they are gone… )  I would also love to get a master’s and live in Europe.  Instead of piano, I’m planning on the guitar.  I’ve been working on the foreign language part.  As I imagine myself in Luci Swindoll’s place, I imagine looking back and wishing I had learned to draw and paint like she can.  It’s so important, SO IMPORTANT, to live our dreams.

Some quotes I wrote on my bookmark:                        

“There is much about me that is not transferable to anybody else.” – Luci Swindoll

“Generally people do what they want to in life if they want it bad enough.  In time, we’ll see how bad you want it.” – Florence Bergendahl, Luci’s music teacher

“Should I have been a mud wrestler?” – Luci Swindoll



Comments are closed.
    New podcast!
    Clutter of the Day

    Author

    I've been working with chronic disorganization, squalor, and hoarding for over 20 years.  I'm also a marathon runner who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and thyroid disease 17 years ago.

    I have a BA in History.

    I live in Southern California with my husband and our pets, an African Gray parrot and a rat terrier.

    #Questioner
    #ENTP

    This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies.

    Opt Out of Cookies

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All
    ADHD
    Birdwatching
    Body Image
    Book Reviews
    Books
    Cleaning
    Clutter
    Fibromyalgia
    Filks
    Fitness
    Food
    Future Self
    Futurism
    Goals
    Habits
    Humor
    Languages
    Martial Arts
    Mindset
    Minimalism
    Money
    Motivation
    Moving
    Organization
    Past Self
    Pets
    Preparedness
    Procrastination
    Public Speaking
    Quests
    Relationships
    Resolutions
    Running
    Sleep
    Technology
    The-woowoo
    The-woo-woo
    Thyroid Disease
    Timemanagement
    Time Management
    Tiny Houses
    Travel
    Weight
    Work
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Dealing With Stuff
  • About
  • Contact