…in a balsa raft with the sun god on your sail.
Talk about adventure! And Kon-Tiki was an adventure my father talked about, with enormous enthusiasm.
And, from all the books my father urged me to read in my pre-teen years, Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl wrote two of the ones I loved best.
So visiting Oslo’s Kon-Tiki Museum with Frank was both sweet and sad. It was sweet when I thought how my father would have loved to be there with us. It was sad when I added this to oh-so-many adventures I’d love to have shared with him, in all the years since he died.
Here’s what I still share with him–sailing the paths of the universe with every one of your friends, every one of the people who have shaped your life. Some of them, when you are lucky, will be by your side. All of them, always, will shape your future adventures.
Not even Kon-Tiki’s sun god could be more powerful.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Ilbrutto55 // Nov 11, 2007 at 3:51 am
I am looking at the full page picture of Thor Heyerdal at the helm of Kon Tiki with that towering wave in the background.
I love that book too and it was inspiring for me when growing up.
Enjoy your time in Europe’s North and thanks for your stories. Heinz
2 Betsy Devine // Nov 11, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Thanks, Heinz–and you’ve inspired me to add one more category for friends-along-on-the journey:
* Friends who are, in fact, standing next to you at the taffrail
* Friends who are, in spirit, standing next to you at the taffrail because their inspiration is part of what got you there
* Friends who have, in spirit, showed up next to you at the taffrail; friends whose shared pleasure will send you all on toward further exciting adventures.
3 Ilbrutto55 // Nov 15, 2007 at 4:44 pm
I like your evolution of friends standing at the taffrail. A picture in words. Bravissima.