Sweet 16

Think back to when you were 16…

What are your memories? What did you spend most of your time doing? What did you think of the world around you and what did you dream of accomplishing?

For me, the scene is set in 1987. I was a Sophomore in High School, spending way too much time flirting with boys and worrying about my appearance—I must have single-handedly put a decent dent in the ozone with all of the Aqua Net that I used on my hair (it was the 80’s and I lived in the south where everything is BIGGER- double whammy).

I fell in love with Johnny Depp in 21 Jumpstreet (a crush that remains today), watched as Baby Jessica was rescued from the well, and cheered as a scantly dressed Cher won best actress for Moonstruck (I envied her cajones for wearing that dress.)

I remember all of the adults talking about ‘condoms in school’, the Iran Contra hearings and the stock market crashing. (No wonder it was the year that Ely Lilly released Prozac in the US.)

My parents were cool, they let me travel to Israel on a teen tour that summer. It was an amazing six week trip where I worked on a Kibbutz, hiked in the Golan, visited ancient sites, climbed Masada, rode a camel, and although I will always treasure the experience, I still remember wanting to break out of the ‘ tourist bubble’ we traveled in.  In many ways the trip felt like a Disneyland / Universal Studios ride meant to provide us a somewhat contrived experience with our counselors and guides, structured days and evening programs, and no time or ability to explore on our own.

I vowed to myself that one day soon I would take a trip to a far away land solely on my own terms. It took me another 12 years to do it.

Zac Sunderland just became the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe alone in his boat. He started at 16 years old and finished today.  I have been following his blog for a year, and admire him tremendously knowing that few of us attempt to tackle such things in our teenage years, or even many years later.

http://www.zacsunderland.com/

http://www.zacsunderland.com/blog/index.html

I hope that it will inspire you to live out one of your dreams..