"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
This quote inspires me to see beyond hardships and adversity and allows me to look ahead to the promise of the future. It helped me train for a marathon and got me through a long hike in the Utah desert this summer. It seems especially suited to my current adventure – a two-month research expedition to Antarctica.
As I write this I have taken that "single step” on my great adventure. I am waiting in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport to board my overnight flight to Santiago, Chile. I lucked out on my flight from San Antonio – a seat in the exit row! Hopefully the other legs of my journey will be as comfortable. Our school term started Monday, so over the past two days I was able to meet my 170 students, tell them about the project, and then tell them good-bye! I won’t see them again until the first week in November.
The adventure ahead holds great promise, yet sacrifices for all involved. Leaving home and family for two months will not be easy on anyone, but the benefits of the team’s research activities will no doubt be worth the sacrifice. I am hoping that my cats and dogs will still "speak” to me when I return, and that the grass won’t grow so tall in my absence that I can’t find the house. Oh well, plenty of time for yard work during our mild Texas winter.
I picked up a little light reading for the trip – Alfred Lansing’s Endurance. It tells the true story of Ernest Shackelton’s journey from England to Antarctica in 1914 and the ordeal of survival when their ship was crushed after being trapped in the ice for ten months. I’ll let you know how the story turns out…