It's a Wonderful Life

I ended a recent newsletter with the declaration that "Adventure is moving into the unknown believing wonderful things will happen. I need to rediscover life as adventure."

I was immediately humbled by a post by John Ptacek on the Fight Like a Girl Club website that "Surrender meant discarding the idea that life is always supposed to be wonderful; it’s just supposed to be life."

"Is believing wonderful things a naïve and ridiculous approach?" I asked myself. Speaking of wonder to "cancer and disease warriors" might be unwelcome.

I thought about the word "wonderful" and its root:

won·der

verb (used without object)

1. to think or speculate curiously: to wonder about the origin of the solar system.
2. to be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe; marvel (often followed by at ): He wondered at her composure in such a crisis.
3. to doubt: I wonder if she'll really get here.

Wonderful –Full of wonder: full of curiosity, admiration, amazement, awe, doubt.

A couple days after writing the newsletter I went to our local Renaissance Festival, a good place for an adventure. We enjoyed laughing at our favorite acts, watching the dancers, listening to music, admiring the people… It was wonderful. We did not enjoy the dust, the uneven ground, the crowds... It was wonderful.

Wonder is a word that encompasses bright and dark. Adventure is like that too. It doesn't force things to be positive or negative; it allows for ambiguity. It allows for life.