The Adventure Gift

My godson Sam is one of my favorite people in the world. (My dog feels the same way, so you know he’s a great kid.)

And when Sam was younger, I used to rack my brain trying to come up with a great gift. Fun shoes, a cool game, and whatever else I thought a 5- or 7- or — eventually — a 10- or 11-year-old boy might like.

But you know who’s great at knowing what they want? That kid.

But there’s a twist.

There are rules:

1) He must use [the money] for something challenging and

2) the challenging thing must be at least a +6 on a 0-10 scale.

The Adventure Gift begins

In 2017, when Sam was 12, our families were all together on Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands, at a farm cottage with a wood-fired sauna next to a pond. We’d petted the giant pregnant pig, picked plums off the plum tree, visited the wild turkeys. It was time to fire up the sauna. The warm, inviting, cozy wood-fired sauna where we could thaw out every last ounce of stress.

It was Sam’s dad John who brought up the idea of jumping in the pond after the sauna.

The cold, clammy pond, where a furry creature was rumored to live.

Reader: I was not going to jump into that pond.

Sam didn’t want to go into the pond either. Frankly, jumping into the pond was bonkers. We were all in post-sauna bliss. By the time we got out of the sauna, it was dark, and the cold, clammy pond was even colder and clammier. And the creature probably furrier.

(Spoiler: I did not jump into that pond.)

The twist

Reader: Sam did jump into that pond.

The Adventure part

Here’s the thing: an adventure isn’t an adventure if it’s easy. Bravery isn’t bravery if you want to do it. Courage isn’t courageous if it doesn’t take any effort.

Courage, and bravery, and adventure — they are hard. Sometimes they hurt. And they are far, far, far less comfortable than melting your muscles in a wood-burning sauna.

The Gift part

In a way, I guess Sam created his own Adventure Gift. Watching him face his fears but make the choice to overcome them — even if it was an incredibly hard and uncomfortable decision to make — inspired me.

Sam, the rock star

So, for every birthday since The Jump, Sam has gotten what his parents Rah and John have called ‘the adventure gift.’ Jarmo and I give him — technically — cash, but there are rules: 1) He must use it for something challenging and 2) the challenging thing must be at least a +6 on a 0-10 scale. (Everyone’s scale is different, but for me, jumping out of a plane might be a +11, doing stand-up comedy is a +9, and watching stand-up comedy is a +1, so the Adventure Gift aims to shoot somewhere in between.)

So far, Sam has taken karate, bought a guitar and taken guitar classes at School of Rock, joined a summer theatre and acted in a performance, and even took a tae kwan do weapons class. We love hearing about his adventures (and seeing the photos!) and it seems like he digs having a little extra push and help to do the adventurous thing.

Creativity is all about getting out of our comfort zones, sometimes physically. To me, adventure is creativity + bravery in action. And what life is all about.