making it up as you go

"Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing. Do things without always knowing how they’ll turn out. You’re curious and smart and bored, and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off. There are so many adventures that you miss because you’re waiting to think of a plan. To find them, look for tiny interesting choices. And remember that you are always making up the future as you go."-Randall Munroe

i tend to be quite safe. a planner. brandon is a lot more comfortable with letting go and seeing what happens. we are good for each other in this way (among many ways). 

the photo above is not my own, but when i came across it on a photo blog i follow, i was immediately taken back to this incredible trip brandon and i went on in our first year of marriage. before the demise of the washington coast (as a result of the tourism twilight has generated) we trekked from seattle west to forks, where we met some of the saltiest people on earth before we set out on a 17-mile backpacking trip down the coast. we climbed up and down suspect ladders and ropes, from sandy beaches to the tops of ocean-side cliffs to washington rain-forests.  in the middle of march, we had 2.5 days of sunshine in the rainiest place in the US (hoh rainforest). it was glorious and unpredictable and invigorating. 

months later we read in backpacking magazine that the worst storm in the history of the area, which killed a backpacker on the exact same route we completed, occurred the night we left the trail. this has always rattled me a bit, in a "it could have been us" way. but it also points to the fact that while plans are important, they can be made in vain.

my intention for february: 

Do things without always knowing how they’ll turn out.