potential rash = adventure

I recently suffered a break up with a software engineer. Most of this was conducted via email which is a really bad idea. Spoken words fade and even those of us with the best memories lose our grasp of the precise language over just a few hours time. Not so with email! You can reread that bullshit and achieve near precise levels of infuriation. Each and every time.

In my defense I didn't realize that the heated emails were building up to a dissolution of the agreement (which was exclusively dating each other and not knowing anyone else (biblically) while this contract was in place). Now voided, I'm free to know other men - Biblically.

I digress. In one dastardly missive the software engineer wrote AND I QUOTE "you have only a narrow and limited concept of what true adventure means and what goes along with it. You are more familiar with consumer imitations of adventure than true daring and true self-reliance."

Before I proceed, you should know that I allowed him to live, but on the condition that he do his living far, far from where I'm doing my living. He later profusely apologized, showing a sincere desire to make amends and retracting everything that he'd said. There's a parable in here - never argue over email. It's far easier to forgive what someone said to you, out loud, in the heat of it. Quite a different matter to forgive what is written and conceivably well thought out. I did forgive him, but it's conditional upon proximity. If he's across town, he can bask in the warmth of my magnanimity. If I can see him, my words will likely get away from me, despite my best intentions to exhibit kindness and goodwill. Let's not forget that I let him live and and continue to view this as personal growth and spiritual progress.

As for my narrow and limited concept of true adventure... I jumped out of an airplane. It was scary as shit. I'm never doing that again. Even so, I defy anyone to tell me that jumping from an airplane at 12,000 feet is not adventurous. I've travelled the world. My passport has stamps. Air travel in a WWII era plane across Nicaragua is foolish and adventurous. I moved across the country with $230 and no job because I was in love. That's clearly retarded, but also adventurous! Just last week I rode a public bus in Cancun.  Two days ago I hiked Mayan ruins on Cozumel. There were lizards. There was also a Google maps bicycle but that should not take away from your appreciation of my sense of adventure! There were lizards.  New rule: anything that may result in a rash gets to be classified as adventurous.

I'm sensing a pattern. Things that are dangerous, foolhardy, clearly not well planned and likely will turn out to be mistakes are adventurous. Rather funny when you consider that almost every lesson we're taught by our parents is a lesson in averting dangerous, foolhardy, badly planned mistakes.

My question is this: why were we not warned away from falling in love? That's a dangerous adventure.