“We cray cray.” – Anonymous.
Have you ever done something audacious? Something bold? Something that makes your friends shake their heads and mutter “Crazy!“?
I’m not talking jumping-off-a-cliff-with-a-parachute-crazy. And I’m not talking about the crazy stuff we may have done when we were kids. That may fall under the category of “reckless” rather than crazy.
I’m talking about something you had to first consider, then screw up your courage, and finally say “Yes. I’m up for the challenge, up for the adventure, up for the crazy!”
I am considering doing something crazy this weekend. I need it. I have been feeling anxious and scared for too long now and it’s affecting my sleep, my mental health, and my outlook on life. I need a little bit of crazy.
If I do it, I will write about it in this space next week. My “crazy” does not involve breaking any social distancing rules. I will probably be by myself (unless I can convince the hubs to be crazy too).
Here are three crazy things I have done. You may consider these escapades pretty mild to be considered “crazy” but I am, by nature, fairly conservative. I consider them to be a little bit on the wild side.
- When my children were young, my husband and I did not have much disposable income. In fact, at some points, we were downright poor. Nevertheless, we would usually scrimp together some money each year and travel on the cheap.
By the time the youngest one left the nest, we were more comfortable financially. We had visited many locations in the U.S. and even traveled to Mexico and Canada, but never left the North American continent.
For our first trip abroad, we decided on a self-guided biking tour of the Netherlands, based in the town of Wageningen.
This was in the days before cell phones or GPS watches. To navigate we depended on a set of printed directions written by someone who was obviously not a native English speaker.
They also included such baffling instructions as “Turn left at the third telephone pole, after the place where the hair salon used to be.”
After two fairly tense, anxious, and confusing days, we stopped in a bar at the center of town for a beer before we returned to our hotel.
We were the only patrons there and the bartender decided we would be his project for the afternoon. Having never tasted Dutch or Belgian beers, he gave us tiny tastes of several different brews until we found just the right one.
We enjoyed lively conversation while we sipped and before long the bar was filled with other friendly customers who also gave us recommendations.
Because we had to ride our bikes back to the hotel, we were reluctant to taste too many of our new friends’ suggestions but we vowed to return the next day.
After that, we threw away the directions and rode our bikes wherever we wanted, trusting we would find an English-speaking person somewhere who could direct us back to town. And we did.
We rode past windmills, tulips, sheep, and dikes, then repaired each afternoon to the bar for another lesson in European beer.
It may have been crazy to throw away the directions, but it was the right decision for us.
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Several years ago, I traveled with four running friends to Spearfish, South Dakota to participate in the Leading Ladies all-women marathon.
We all stayed in one small hotel room, sharing one tiny bathroom for a week.
Many people told us we were crazy but I think we laughed most of the time we were there.
We ran the race, which was wonderful, and spent the rest of the week exploring the state, which was unexpectedly (to me) beautiful.
There was never an unkind word, never a catty remark, nobody rolled their eyes in impatience the entire week. We called ourselves “The Good Girls in the Badlands“.
One night, after we enjoyed take-out pizza and a bottle of wine in our room, we were all asleep when the door of our room opened.
Luckily, one of us (not me) thought to put the chain on the door so it only opened a crack.
Suddenly awake, I sprinted to see who was there. It was an older woman. She looked confused and possibly under the influence.
She told us the front desk clerk had given her the key to our room, that it was her son’s room. We assured her it was not her son’s room and called the front desk.
Even though it was pretty scary at the time, the episode made a good story after the fact, one I am still telling.
- Two years ago, on Mothers’ Day weekend, my hubby, two friends, and I formed a team to run a trail 24-hour relay.
We took turns running one-hour intervals around a 1.5-mile course.
It became more of an adventure than we planned when, after the first two hours, it began drizzling. The drizzle became a steady rain, which soon turned into a downpour.
Mothers’ Day weekend is not always warm in central Pennsylvania, especially at night. When I returned to our tent after my midnight shift and found my air mattress underwater, I was not happy.
Eventually, we all retreated to our cars to stay warm and dry and get a little uncomfortable sleep between our turns at running.
Unfortunately, runners circling the same dirt course over and over in the pouring rain results in an abundance of mud. Mud that sucked our shoes off; mud that coated our extremities; mud that was so slippery it was almost impossible to stay upright.
At the end of the race, after eating delicious blueberry pancakes, tacos, and pierogies, we stumbled into a nearby inn to shower and sleep. I can only imagine what the desk clerk thought of the filthy, bedraggled couple who checked in that day.
What a crazy adventure.
I hope to have another one to report next week.
You can find the places I link up here.
Please click on the following link to read more funny or inspirational one-liners. One-Liner Wednesday.
I love your cra-cra 💚 what wonderful adventures (and great perseverance on those races!) 👏🏻 I love the Badlands too. What a great life you’re leading. 💚
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Thank you! I would love to bring my hubby to visit the Badlands sometime.
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I’m eager to read of your crazy adventure to come.
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Thank you, Anne. I am a little bit excited and a little bit nervous.
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That sounds like a good formula for a great adventure.
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I can’t wait to hear about what adventure you have planned!
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I hope I have a good story to tell!
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May your cray-cray be a joyous release, Laurie!
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I am hoping, Jan! Thank you.
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Haha, what an enjoyable read! I am thinking about a post on “Courage” for next week, and I think you have just given me an idea.
I especially loved story no. 1. I always imagine Europe to be quite uncomfortable for visitors from the US. Well done for throwing away the directions, that takes courage!
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So glad I could give you an idea for your post, Catrina. Throwing away the directions was actually one of the best decisions we ever made. It raised our confidence levels and allowed us to meet a bunch of new friends.
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Good idea for breaking out of your current anxiety 🙂 Sometimes crazy adventures work out and you have fun stories to tell – it will be so this time too!
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I hope I get a good story from this weekend. Thank you!
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My kind of crazy. Sounds like this may be just what the doctor ordered. Good luck and have fun.
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I hope this is just what the doctor ordered! 🙂 Thank you, Denny.
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I like your crazy! Good luck on your next adventure and I can’t wait to read about it.
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Thank you. I can’t wait to write about it. I am excited and nervous! 🙂
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Those truly are amazing adventures, Laurie, that do border on the crazy side. But what’s life without some craziness in it? Blessings!
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So true, Martha. We all need to go a LITTLE bit crazy at times! 🙂
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What a tease, Laurie! Although right now all I can think about is pierogies, which I love (and often fueled long runs with — the night before — I think it’s a perfect prerun/race food.
I think it’s fairly obvious from my blog that I’m not a crazy kinda gal.But i have been in both a glider and a hot air balloon. I once flew to Europe literally for the weekend — on pretty short notice — to spend our anniversary together, since my husband had to be there for work. I’ve also walked all over the European countries we visited by myself, since they were always work trips for my husband.
That’s my kind of crazy. 🙂
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Pierogies are the ultimate carb-loading comfort food. Great pre-race fuel.
Wow! Glider, hot air balloon, Europe for the weekend? You sound like a wild and crazy gal to me! 🙂
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Agreed on the pierogies. Good post race too. I once stopped at a place in MA post race. They even had dessert pierogies, which I’d never had before. The were awesome.
Still trying to guess what you’re up to. Marathon? Ultra? Trail half? Virtual relay with your friends somehow?
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I’ll tell you Sunday afternoon! 😀
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Many years ago when I first heard about Ragnar relays, I thought they were the most insane thing. Who wants to stay up all night and run while living in a van? This girl apparently! After swearing I would never do one, I’ve done 5. So much fun. Stepping out of your comfort zone can be fun! Can’t wait to read about your adventure this weekend
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I have never done a Ragnar, but I would like to. My friend gave my name to a team that runs them regularly. Maybe after the pandemic is over. Sounds like fun!
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“Turn left at the third telephone pole, after the place where the hair salon used to be.” Sounds like directions my father would have given you.
I look forward to reading about your antics.
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Ha! Did your father used to live in Holland?
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No, but he gave directions based on references to places that used to be there
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Gotta watch out for those Belgium beers. They are STRONG. That 24 hour race sounds miserable and therefore crazy. Sometimes you just need to pack up and go home.
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You’re right. They ARE strong. We just drank a little sip of each, so it wasn’t too bad. Nah, we never thought about going home. We wouldn’t have had a great story to tell afterward! 🙂
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Stay safe and have fun. When I tell that to my husband he insists its a contradiction. Will be praying and looking forward to your post. Blessings, Michele
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Exactly what I used to tell my kids. I will try to do both this weekend. Thank you!
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I LOVE that you threw out those directions! That’s something that would be super hard for me to do but I 100% see how it made your vacation your own. You’ve inspired me, Laurie.
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It was actually one of the best decisions we ever made. It set a chain of events in place that actually changed our lives.
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Good luck with it!!!!!
2 made me laugh (my sister wanted to know what was funny 🙂 )
Love, light, and glitter
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Thank you, Eliza. #2 was a fun trip from start to finish.
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I do a lot of crazy adventures, at least they are crazy to me (and everyone around me!). Not jumping out of a plane crazy, tho. Looking forward to hearing about yours.
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Yay for you, Wendy! Have adventures while you can. I am keeping my fingers crossed for this weekend.
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I like the sound of your cycling trip to Holland. I’d love to do something like that with my husband!
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It was really fun. I hope you get to do it sometime!
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Crazy is as crazy does. I look forward to reading about what you’re up to, oh crazy one.
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Haha! Yes, I’m the wild one for sure! 😉
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Number 2 is creepy and funny at the same time.
I cant wait for number 4 and more.
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I am excited and anxious about number four too! Thank you.
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I love these stories–AND I love that you are thinking about what you need right now. I get in a similar space, and that’s when I know I need to ‘get out of town.’ So I will be VERY eager to hear what kind of crazy you find ‘in restriction.’
Note to self: always use the chainlock on a hotel room door!
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I can’t wait to read about your next adventure! I love doing things like that! A lot of my friends (and my husband and mom, too) think I’m crazy, but honestly, I love experiencing new things, and if I wait for it to be “acceptable” then I might miss out. No, thank you!
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Good for you! Keep on having adventures. You won’t regret it!
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Your adventure in the rain reminds me of my first ultra. It was a 6-hour overnight “race” where we (myself and several runner friends) circled the same 1-mile loop (around a lake and through a park) as many times as possible before the 6:00 a.m.deadline. After only an hour into the race, the heavens opened, and the rain came down. It was a hot July evening, so the rain actually felt refreshing, but it lasted for a couple of hours, and it was a heavy downpour at times. Being it was so hot and humid, none of us ever dried out, even after the rain had stopped. But we all finished, and have a lot of “crazy” memories from that overnight expedition in the rain. Oh, and several of us returned the following year and ran the 12-hour event!
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Oh my goodness! That DOES sound like an adventure! Thisgs like that give you good memories after the fact! 🙂 I must not have been too bad if you did the 12-hour the next year.
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Great stories! I am honestly not able to think of anything crazy I have done lately. Everything that comes to mind is from when I was in my early 20s and I would consider those acts sort of on the reckless side. I feel like I was a different person then! Hope you have a fun story to tell next week!
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Ha! You have a little baby. Now is not the time for doing crazy things. You have your hands full! 🙂
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I can’t wait to see what is on the plan this week! One of my biggest “adventures” was not really activity related (though we did run of course). When my husband I and got married in 1999, we returned to Paris for our honeymoon. I planned the entire trip on the internet (a big deal in those days) and included several days in Paris, a trip to the South of France on the TGV train, a couple days in Nice, then three days with no reservations except for a rental car. We ended up driving to Florence based on the recommendation of a restaurant owner we met in Mentone. It was wonderful and I’d do it again in an instant!
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Wow! That sounds like an awesome honeymoon. I would love to back to Paris and to visit the south of France. Have you ever heard of Marathon du Medoc? It’s on my bucket list. Someday!
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Is that the one that includes wine? It sound fun though I doubt I’d finish if I indulged!
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Yes. they have wine at the aid stations along with steak and oysters! 🙂
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I am not very adventurous, but I am trying to say “yes” to crazy opportunities because I do have fun once I get going. Next weekend was supposed to be the fruition of a crazy idea I had for my husband to meet me in Switzerland for a long weekend after my buisness meetings …. at least our flights were canceled so we got our $$ back.
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Good for you for saying “yes” more often. Wow! Too bad your long weekend in Switzerland was canceled but I’m glad you got your money back!
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It was easy to take on challenges and do fun and crazy things when younger and not bat an eyelash. I’ll look forward to seeing what adventure you have cooked up for yourself – hope Bill is there to take pictures at least, even if not along for the experience!
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Yes, we do think about adventures much more before undertaking anything out of the ordinary now, don’t we? That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I am nervous about this weekend. I am hoping I can convince Bill to do it with me.
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I am looking forward to seeing your adventure – tell Bill he needs to be adventurous for a change of pace.
A fellow blogger went skydiving with her husband last year – it was on their bucket list and they both went to college, got degrees and began careers, then decided to return to school, he for his masters (he worked in P.R. for a minor league baseball team in San Diego) and she is to become a physician’s assistant (she was an emergency room nurse prior to returning to school). So they both work very hard with school and needed a lift. She posted the pictures of them before their jumps and in mid-air. How fun, but they are braver than me! I mention this story in case it is a “jump” you are undertaking, but I don’t think you’d be doing that due to social distancing right now.
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We have started our adventure already. So far, so good! Wow! Skydiving? I don’t think I am that brave. Kudos to that couple, though.
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Wow – and living to tell about it already! They are half our age Laurie – and then some. She is 25 I believe and same for her husband. I was braver back in the day but not sure I’d ever be up for skydiving.
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I have always had a fear of heights. Skydiving was never in the cards for me either.
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Some amazing crazy endeavors – can’t wait to hear what this one is (:
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I’m nervous about it. We’ll see how it turns out!
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They sound like they were a bit crazy but a lot of fun! Now you have me thinking about the craziest things I’ve ever done.
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Yes. They were a lot of fun. I hope you remember something fun/crazy you did.
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I love this kind of crazy- I think I can hang with that. I was thinking how could I respond as my mind went blank and then it came to me: I always wanted to parasail and one year our family was vacationing on Lake Berryessa in California and I signed my son up and I for tandem parasailing. As we went up the wind shifted and we started going downwards and I said to my son (maybe I screamed it!): “we are going down” and we came down crashing into the water but not injured. I think at the time my husband looked up to see my son’s brown eyes 10 times bigger than they were normally! But here’s the kicker – I did not want to leave my son with a sour experience or fear in his gut. So I said we need to go up again. So we did and we gracefully parasailed over the lake and I kept repeating “isn’t this beautiful; isn’t this fun?” So perhaps I might’ve been thought of as crazy for choosing to go up in the air again after the initial launch ended up to be rather terrifying . Something must have come over me and I’m glad it did! I think next time I see my son, I’m going to talk to him about this experience from his perspective 25 years later and have his four sons nearby to hear about it!
Susan Grace
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Wow!!! Parasailing??? You are brave. Good for you for getting back on the “horse” (or in this case, parasail) so your son wouldn’t be traumatized.
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You do love pushing yourself! And you’re right: the crazy things become better stories every year.
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You’re right – we (I) do find ways to embellish stories over time! 🙂
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Oh my gosh, that bike trip in the Netherlands sounds amazing! I love the ‘turn left where the hair salon used to be instructions’! Too much fun. My 3 boys are in their 20s, all Eagle Scouts and high-adventure hikers/campers. I am up for anything, but my husband is not very adventurous. He will go along with the group, though, so I’m glad we have the boys to provide some much needed encouragement. Can’t wait to tune in next week to see what you have going on!
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The bike trip to the Netherlands was so much fun. Good for you for raising 3 Eagle Scouts! My boys are all campers and hikers too. I like hiking but like to have a comfy bed to sleep in at night! 🙂 And a shower.
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What a fun post! I might have to steal the idea. The bike trips sounds fabulous. A little scary and exhausting, but fabulous nevertheless.
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Haha! Yes, do it! I will look forward to reading your 3 crazy things! 🙂
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Hello, your adventures sound like fun to me. I would love to see the Netherlands and the Dakotas, maybe a tour and not a bike . Take care, enjoy your day!
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The Dakotas were unexpectedly beautiful. I would love to go back and bring my hubby with me this time. Thank you!
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I like your kind of crazy and it sounds like mine! lol When we traveled to Ireland we rented a car and made our way around, much like you did. Letting the locals lead our way was one of the best trips of my life. Thank you for linking up today.
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Ha! I think my kind of crazy is the conservative, fun kind. That trip to Ireland sounds awesome. I hope to be able to go sometime. Thank you for hosting.
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Now I’m anxious to see what craziness you have planned for this weekend! I’m not much of risk taker so I’m not sure what the craziest things I’ve ever done would be.
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I’m typically not much of a risk-taker either. I’m excited and nervous about this weekend.
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I loved reading about your adventures and I am intrigued by what the next one will be! I hope you manage to do it and I look forward to reading about it!
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I hope I manage to do it too! I am excited and nervous.
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Interesting! I look forward to reading about whatever it is if you do it. I am pretty conservative myself and usually opt for safe over crazy. My husband and I used to drive from SC to TX through the night when our kids were small, so it wouldn’t be hot and they would sleep through most of it. That got scary at some points, with strangers approaching us at night at gas stations. As we got older, we couldn’t stay awake to do that, but by then our kids traveled better. The only crazy thing I can remember doing was really stupid. In high school, the year before my parents divorced was pretty rough. Our school was having a band contest hosting other school bands. My best friend, who was in band, got me behind the scenes. I ended up driving out in the country with a couple of guys from another school I had never met before. These days I cringe at the thought. All we did was drive around and talk, but that could have ended SO badly. I thank God for His protection through my stupidity. I was also supposed to be in class. I was pretty much a rule follower and never skipped class like that any other time. I don’t know why I did it. I’ve heard of people doing crazy things like that in war time–a release of tension, I guess, or a feeling that life is upending. Or something. That was the only year I did a number of stupid things. Not that I haven’t done stupid things since (like accidentally shutting my finger in a locked car door with my toddler inside…yikes!). 🙂 Just not the particular kind of stupid as then. But, God used my parents’ split and our subsequent move to bring me to Himself. So I am thankful for that.
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Yes, I can remember doing some stuff in high school that makes me cringe now too. I am pretty conservative – not likely to do anything too nutty – but I do like to shake things up every once in a while. Oooh…ouch on the finger! I am thankful you found the Lord too. I found Him when I needed Him most.
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I’ve certainly done many crazy things over the years, mainly travel adventures like you describe. But I don’t think they’re crazy, they just sound mad to others
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Yes, traveling does give you your share of adventures, doesn’t it? That’s why I love it so much!
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