My friend Toni rolled in to town tonight on her new motorcycle. She took a class in April back in Fairbanks, bought a bike, quit her job and left Alaska headed for the Florida keys a week and some change ago. Tonight we feasted on crab rangoon and sipped margaritas, while she regaled me with stories of people she’s met on the road south. And how she is already planning an around-the-world-trek for the near future, addicted to life on the road with just these few days’ worth of a taste. Watching her, glowing from the journey, I realized that she is a badass, and I am so happy to have her passing through my house today and as a permanent fixture in my life in general. She’s as close as family, but in the meta-narrative that runs through everything, she motivates me to dive in and grab what’s possible, from stories of her peace corps days to a recent solo journey hiking through Manchu Picchu, to this latest journey on her own road.
A couple of days ago, Jodi came off the glacier for less than twenty four hours to grab food and a real shower. She’s been up on the ice living in a tiny wall tent with one other person and forty dogs since she was forced to come down for a burst appendix last month. Thirty days on the ice, sutures fresh out, running dogs, moving camp, digging out of blizzards without so much as radio contact with the rest of the world. And when she came off the ice? Of all of her myriad friends and acquaintances and rabid fans … I was shocked and humbled that I was on the other end of that call, discussing hired help and pedicures and directions to REI to get new sunglasses.
Sitting with Toni tonight, I realized that I am surrounded by women who are bad-asses. And that I have surrounded myself with them. Terri & Andrea, Jenny & Jodi, even Aliy & Paige to a lesser extent … women who have had hard hands dealt at times, but have come out fighting, making a life for themselves and living it well and fully. And this is what I need, what I want to be surrounded by. Women who I wish to emulate, whose drive and will and ingenuity have gotten them to the places they’ve wanted to go and beyond. And I have done so, because I want to be them. I want to be the person with the courage and strength to go after my crazy dreams, no matter how implausible or impractical they seem on the ground in these days full of nursing texts and clinicals and a far too complicated life.
So with Toni sleeping upstairs tonight, her bike in the garage and road-gear in the hamper for tomorrow, I hope I can keep these friends close. To be reminded of what I am aiming for, and gather what I need from them to go after it myself. And do it well and fully, as they have done, before me.
entelechyproject 