Community Chat

[patbz]

Its a toss up:  When I took a one month trip to Europe with a friend when I was 21 (first crossing, first train, first airplane and no tour or reservations, only travellers cheques, pre designated stops at various AMEXCOs to pick up mail).

When I graduated at 22 I signed a three year contract to go to Germany to work.

[SeaMaiden]

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@SunValley wrote:

I woke at 3 in the morning to see a strange man in my bedroom going through my jewelry box. I jumped up and went after him with a young mother's fury. I have never felt such a surge of adrenaline. As I was chasing him down the dark basement stairs, better sense took over and I retreated upstairs and called the police. I was very lucky he did not harm my children or me. I shook for a week.

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@SunValley. Just WOW! You are so brave and it is those times like  you experienced were your true self appears. He was just lucky you did not get ahold of him. No worse rath than a Mother protecting her babies!  

[Plaid Pants2]

I also did a three day whitewater rafting trip.

[Yardlie]

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@Moonchilde wrote:

I'm not a physically risky, daredevilish person, so no heart-pounding physical moments for me.

The one thing that comes to mind is, nearing 50, my specialized work had all but dried up where I lived and was all outsourced. There were no jobs and I'd been one step ahead of being laid off for this reason for years.

I took a job 65 miles away in an unfamiliar part of the city, not being positive I could learn to fulfill all the duties of the job description. Until I could move, I had a round-trip drive that was 2 hrs in the am and three+ hours in the pm. I had to replace the transmission on my car. After 2 days on the job my mother went into a coma with a cardiac event and my step-father was placed (by me) in an Alzheimers facility. And I was terrified I'd lose my new job.

For nine months I drove between my old apt, my new job, and on weekends to visit my mom - who was 70 miles from my apt. I almost lost my mind until I was finally able (as in had the "spare" time to look) to move and my mother recovered and went to live with a family member.  The financial cost with unexpected expenses I never saw coming put me into bankruptcy. Had I elected to try and share a place with my mother, I would have had to quit my job to deal with her, and there would not have been enough income together for us to live on. All financial possibilities were investigated at the time.

I stayed in the job for 18 years. I hated every minute of it (very stressful), but I beat the odds in that I remained employed and continued being able to support myself, while others in my field were not so lucky.

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Wow...isn't it amazing what we do when we have to? That really must have been a terribly stressful ordeal. To stay in a job that you hate for 18 years really took stamina and determination. Good for you beating the odds!

[Yardlie]

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@patbz wrote:

Its a toss up:  When I took a one month trip to Europe with a friend when I was 21 (first crossing, first train, first airplane and no tour or reservations, only travellers cheques, pre designated stops at various AMEXCOs to pick up mail).

When I graduated at 22 I signed a three year contract to go to Germany to work.

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You certainly had guts to challenge yourself like that! I'm sure you have some wonderful memories.

[Yardlie]

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@Plaid Pants2 wrote:

I also did a three day whitewater rafting trip.

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Three days?! I think one day would do me in.

[Moonchilde]

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@corita wrote:

     When I look back at my "risky" thing, I almost have to sit down and breathe!  Can't believe I did this....while in college, one of my best friends was dating a guy who had his aviator's license!!  So one week end, we - my friend, her pilot, my guy and me - decided to rent a plane and fly to a very well known restaurant that had special field for little planes to land!!  It was in California!!

     I can't even remember the name of the restaurant or much about the plane trip....except the plane was one of those little, tiny ones!!!  What I do remember is that once we got to the restaurant, I was so nervous that I could not eat!!! And the prices at this place were not inexpensive!!

    Wow!  I never told my father about this little event...he would have murdered me!!

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My stepfather had a private pilot's license and for awhile we had our own plane, a 4-seater.  We used to go on weekend lunch flights all the time when I was between 11-15. Santa Monica has restaurants next to the runway and so do a few other SoCal airports. One was next to the fairgrounds and we'd fly in and get a cab to the fair. We would fly to Palm Springs for the weekend, and once to San Diego and then drove to Ensenada.

I have always had severe motion sickness in cars. One particular time we went to PS, coming back the turbulence was so bad we had to leave the plane at another airport and drive home. I was so sick I wanted to die - and I get airsick now at the drop of a hat. I have to totally load up on Dramamine, Bonine, etc so I sleep through a flight.

[Plaid Pants2]

when I was about 25 - 26, I took my very first airplane trip ever to anyplace.

Where did I go?

I went to Ireland!

I flew out of Sacramento airport to Chicago O'Hare, from there to Dublin airport, and from Dublin to County Cork airport.

I took taxis everywhere.

Oh, and I did this all by myself.

Coming back, I flew from Cork County airport to Dublin airport, from Dublin to LAX, and from LAX I took Amtrak.

On Amtrak, I took a 2 a.m. bus from L.A. to Bakersfield, a train from Bakersfield to Martinez (bay area), and a bus from Martinez to home.

I wanted to take Amtrak home, that's why I did it that way.

[RainCityWoman]

I quit my secure teaching job on an island after only three years in my career and moved back to the city where the economy was going under and schools were being closed. I ended up working as an editor and librarian at an accounting firm for two years and then went on to teach and be a department head for the next 27 years. It all worked out in the end, but my parents thought it was crazy at the time. Sometimes you just have to choose the path you think will make you happiest and be of the firm belief that everything will work out in the end.

[Noel7]

I did quite a few really risky and dangerous things in my early 20s.  It was part of my job at the time and sometimes required going into very dangerous places with guns. 

Once it was into a cheap hotel to get a 16 year old out with her infant while a knife fight was going on a few feet away.  We got out through a window.

I look back sometimes and wonder how I made it to my 30s.