Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

So, I’m 55 and I think I can be allowed just a tiny bit of nostalgia.  For those people who knew me in Keremeos, when I attended the Similkameen Secondary School, can you remember a grade 12 course called Community Recreation??

So, back in the day, I was 17 and the “geek” of the class.  I was terribly nearsighted with a lazy right eye, and wore heavy glasses.  Sports involving balls were a real challenge to me, as my eyes couldn’t track worth a damn.  I was also an introvert who didn’t do too well in team activities.  So … Physical Education (PE) was my worst subject.  And yet, I loved the outdoors, was actually very fit, and was an active member of the runner’s club, often placing at the local runner’s meets.

Well, then there was Community Recreation 12.  I remember being totally envious over the activities that the students got to get involved in, particularly the component referred to as “adventure” – hiking, backpacking, camping, river rafting, caving, rock climbing, snow sports, mountain biking …  This was just my ticket … only it wasn’t, because you had to be a jock with an “A” in PE 11 to get in.  So, I didn’t.

I went on to UBC the next year, and I refused to let my poor eyesight stop me from taking up a life of adventuring.  I had just discovered contacts and a whole new way of seeing.  Later, as I found out that contacts on two week camping trips were a pain, I learned about titanium frames and high index plastic lenses.  I was no longer bogged down with glasses that felt like they weighed two pounds, fell off every time I turned my head too fast, and ended up getting broken several times a year.

So here’s to nostalgia!   I’ve collected together a few pictures of the places to which this half-blind, introverted geek has managed to get.

What am I up to next?  Well, I’m going to work at learning to sail our new sailboat this summer!

As an aside, this is the largest (and only) collection of photos in which I am featured that you will find anywhere.  For those of you who wondered what I looked like, here I am.

As a second aside, I have journals and slide shows from some of my trips which I hope someday to transcribe into an online format for my blogs – a little bit of history and a whole lot of nostalgia.