Thursday, December 18, 2008

Who inspires you?

I've recently been touched and inspired by two people who I don't know. One of them is a friend of a friend who has a blog titled "inspired adventurer". She used to live in Portland, but now has been traveling the South Pacific for almost a year. I don't know her exact story, but it appears she caught the same bug that we did, and decided something needed to change. She travels like we hope to do someday very soon. My favorite quote on her blog: "It's never too late to become the person you might have been." -George Elliot

The next woman who has touched and inspired me and Scott is Christina Bockius. She is a kiteboarder from Hood River who recently died a few days after breaking her neck while kiteboarding in La Ventana, Baja. This is where Scott and I spent a month kiteboarding during our travels in 2003. Her obituary brought tears to both of our eyes. She was noted to have sayings like: “We’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time,” and “Life’s too short to be in a bad mood.” She was a mother, wife, and amazing athlete. She spoke 4 languages. She was happy.

What I've gleaned from both of these amazing women is that life really is too short to do things that don't make you happy. I've always felt that if I could ever find a bit of inner peace and daily joy, it would also find it's way into the hearts of other people. These women have done that for me. Thanks Sara and Christina.