Remember Your Roots and Keep Them Colored

We should probably live before we die

By Trena Eiden
Posted 3/31/22

In our Wyoming home, we’ve never had television per se, only a TV for Netflix and Hulu since we don’t have cable. On our first winter jaunt to the south, Gar wanted to purchase a flat …

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Remember Your Roots and Keep Them Colored

We should probably live before we die

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In our Wyoming home, we’ve never had television per se, only a TV for Netflix and Hulu since we don’t have cable. On our first winter jaunt to the south, Gar wanted to purchase a flat screen for the camper because there were 37 stations we could get with just an antenna. Walking through Camper World one day, Gar spied a satellite dish specifically for RVs. He stopped to ogle it, making a show of patting the apparatus. Pointing to it, he nodded his head while raising his eyebrows at me for effect, and said emphatically, “That is exactly what I need.”

Knowing he was joking, I rolled my eyes and kept walking. Raising his voice to my back, he called, “Well, when you die …”

We should all probably attempt living before the Lord calls us home, but a bucket list for one person is different for another. I sent our daughter a sign: “Die with memories, not with dreams.” 

Ouch. Of all our children, only our girl is unmarried, thus able to have death-defying experiences without being fussed at by a spouse. She deep sea dives, sometimes with sharks, who, surprisingly enough, show up in the ocean. She mountaineers 19,000-foot peaks, kayaks, snowboards, safaris, hikes, ziplines and has adventured in 20 countries. When I tell people this, they give me a once-over and ask if she’s adopted.

We do not feel her brothers bring less excitement to our lives because they’ve given us 11 grandbabies who add joy and humor — and even they understand excursions. When Romes was 4, he came to sit by me and said, “Grammy, I’ve been thinking that tomorrow we can just go on a vacation, how does that sound? Because I think I just really need a vacation.” 

In an attempt to “really live,” people have ridden bicycles across North America, motorcycles across South America, climbed granite walls in the Arctic, spearfished in Thailand, cliff dived 92 feet in waters around the world, and fished from 150-foot platforms from offshore drilling rigs. Our oldest son did that last one while working for an oil company in the Gulf of Mexico. Since it may not be totally legal, and I’m not in the know about the statute of limitations, let’s just keep this between us. 

If you’re feeling especially adventuresome, you can pay hard-earned cash in Indonesia to drop 40 feet from the top of a ship’s mast into the ocean. I don’t know if sharks in the vicinity cost extra, so be sure to inquire.

In the Bahamas, you can swim with pigs and as you approach the island by boat, the swine will swim out to you. I was told, depending on how friendly they were on that day, you could perhaps swim and share your lunch with them. Sometimes they’re not friendly? What if we didn’t know that one had recently escaped from pig death row? 

You can swim with millions of jellyfish in Palau and the guy who told me, said, and I quote, “They’re not the killer jellyfish, but they do sting, but really, they don’t, like, kill you or anything.” Oh, well, I think no.

This same guy mentioned, “flyboarding jetpack flight.” Your feet go into boots that are attached to a board, then a tube is fastened from your feet to the jet skis which propels you into the air. The man said, “You’ll have to use every ounce of balance you have and even then, it’s beyond challenging.” I have no idea why he told me about this. Just by looking at me, a sane person would never bring up anything that has to do with a “challenge.” I’m like an expert at not attempting challenges. 

A few other ideas are: trekking with gorillas in Uganda (yikes); sleeping in an ice hotel in Sweden (please no); getting a fish pedicure in Spain, where fish nibble your toe’s dry skin; or spend up to $1,000 on a nine-course meal at a California restaurant called, The French Laundry. A thousand bucks — and they don’t even wash your clothes while you wait. 

Gar and I have hiked to 12,000-feet several times, and when I say “hiked,” I mean, huffed, puffed, cried, clawed, swore and sweated. If you’ve never hiked higher elevations nor hiked at an incline, you should try it. It’s not as easy as I make it sound.

Last, there’s sunbathing topless on the French Riviera, but I personally wouldn’t do it and put innocent bystanders through that kind of anguish.

Remember Your Roots and Keep Them Colored

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