Dad Shares the Idea.

Dad first ‘let me into’ the idea when I was around five or six years old. I wasn't quite sure what made him think of it, but being a person whose always had big ideas, some of them a bit crazy, I wasn’t entirely surprised.  As Dad sat at the table with his double-shot (plus extra shot), no-froth latte it became clear that this wasn’t to be some random idea, which also just so happened to sound like a seriously epic adventure.  There would apparently be huge responsibility linked to this, so with this in mind he began to share, in a manner reserved only for very serious occasions, the significance of the idea. I can always tell when he requires my full attention because he peers over the top of his glasses and leans forward, his faced masked with concentration.

I pressed the palms of my hands together as I did my utmost to look attentive although, in my brilliant five year-old mind, all I could think about was putting tents up, roasting marshmallows over campfires and sharing ghost stories.  I should have known better as Dad has taught my sisters and I from a young age that good only comes with hard work, and to positively embrace life’s struggles.  As he sat across the kitchen table from me, he began to explain rites of passage, which he and Mum had decided were to become family tradition.

These rites of passage would take place at the ages of seven, “The Age of Responsibility”; at thirteen, “The Age of Maturity”; and eighteen, “The Age of Adulthood”.  At that time, I had no idea other children didn't also do these rites.  Since learning it was only our family, I thought it was pretty cool.

Seven is the Age of Responsibility. This determines that we are basically not babies any more and can only rely on our parents for certain things from then onwards. To actually determine our ‘pass or fail’, we would have to give a speech* in front of our family and friends.  In hindsight this was a good idea because at the age of seven I was young enough not to be scared and the experience itself gave me confidence in later years.  Don’t ask me what I said because for the life of me I do not remember.  Not the point though - first rite of passage complete!!!

At thirteen is the Age of Maturity. This marks the start of teenage years, adolescence, taking more responsibility for our own decisions and becoming a young man.  We are really starting to be shown a great deal of trust and loyalty. The challenge for this privilege however is greater than at seven. Instead, the challenge is to do something good in the world. This could be in the form of doing something extremely difficult, and using that platform to raise money for charity.  On the other hand, it could be in the form of working in a monastery or helping to build a school in a Less Economically Developed Country (LEDC), or something along those lines.  Many LEDC’s are around the equator and tropics so building a school in blistering heat is very hard work.

Five years later, when I was eleven, the big day finally came and my dad gave me a book of options to decide from (which I think he's sharing as a blog).  For example, under hiking, my choices included: The Appalachian Trail, The PCT, Camino de Santiago (The Way of St James) and The Haute Pyrenees.  Of course my initial favourite was the PCT and I slightly leaned towards that one from the very start.  At one point, we thought my dad was going to have a pacemaker, which would have meant he couldn't carry a backpack, so we were going to do the The Great Divide Mountain Bike Trail.  Fortunately, no pacemaker.  During that year I did a lot of research at school and at home.

Eventually, when I was twelve I was asked my final decision.  I had completely forgotten (or so I claim) that this was the day I was supposed to choose which adventure I was going to do.  After a crap-load of “Come on! Come on!” from my sisters and even more of “De-de, de-de, de-de, de-de, de-de-de-de-BOOM” (Hint – 30 seconds with Nick Hewer and Rachel Riley) from the whole table, I chose the PCT.  There is going to be much planning, training and preparation ahead and I am looking forward to all of it. To be entirely honest, I didn’t think everything would be that hard at first but that’s a different blog altogether.