Childhood

If you had seen Shaun as a child, you may not have expected him to lead an adventurous life. He was too timid and shy, with no real propensity for sports. At the May Day party during first grade in Palo Alto, California, for example, he lined up at the starting line for a foot race. When other children had completed the race, he was only half way to the finish line and just blended into the crowd alongside the course instead of continuing down the empty field to the finish line alone. When the local YMCA sent him a letter inviting him to attend a basketball camp at age five, he wondered (being unaware of mass marketing) what on earth made them think he might be good at it. Any glorious triumphs in those days were flukes and few and far between. Like the time he hit a grand slam during fifth grade recess baseball, knocking the tennis ball into the street. Or the instant double play during kick ball when he jumped up to catch the kick, then landed on first base before the runner could tag up. Even better was when a dustless dust devil ran over him in right field, momentarily lifting his hair into the air. The entire grade spend the following weeks chasing tiny twisters, visible only by the foot-wide patches of grass whipping frantically as they danced across the playground lawn, and trying to stand in their whirling updrafts. If you peered more closely, however, and if you used your imagination, you might have recognized a few seeds that would later bloom. You might have wondered if the boat built of scrap wood and nails sticking out for the mast (which made the teacher confiscate it), or his favorite poster painted in kindergarten of a giant yellow dolphin leaping above the waves were a precursor of things to come. You might have noticed the way he read voraciously later in elementary school, devouring biographies of historical figures and fiction like Edgar Rice Boroughs' Tarzan and Mars series, filling his mind with inspiring examples and stoking his imagination still higher. You might have noticed the way he looked out at the world and imagined creative possibilities, even if he was too timid to do much about them. Or not. You probably would have had to wait until he moved from Brazil to Utah at eight years old and took up skiing that winter. By the next year, he could parallel turn and he blushed when his ski instructor said she had seen him "burning up the mountain." You'd have had to wait till he began playing soccer, especially his last year on the worst team in the league. In a scrimmage the night before playing the second-worst team, he scored seven goals as his team beat their opponents 8-1. The next day, his team played poorly and lost, and Shaun didn't sign up again the next year (which, naturally, he regrets). You'd have had to wait until high school, when he was skiing off cliffs and carving through deep moguls smoothly enough that people riding the lift turned around in their seats to watch. When he rode the XL185 every day and jumped it in nearby fields and gravel pits. The shyness was mostly gone by then and Shaun's knack for adventure was much more evident.

Out of the Shell

Just like the ugly duckling's unlikely transformation, by adulthood, Shaun had become highly proficient in a wide swath of outdoor sports. He often rode motorcycles, SCUBA dived, sailed, played roller hockey, mountain biked, backpacked, fished, climbed vertical rocks, ice, and tall mountains, and more. Something in the blend of fresh air and the extreme called to him, calmed him, and echoed something in his intrinsic nature enough that he felt perfectly at home flying 60 mph down a snow-covered mountain, or hanging by finger and toe tips a thousand feet in the air with a only a thin rope for protection. For 12 straight years, he never went a month without rock climbing. Road biking didn't appeal to him - it sounded too easy - until cousins proposed a ride to California. Suddenly it sounded very appealing. Surprisingly, in all the miles covered on skis, skates, wheels, etc., he only ever broke one bone during hockey pile up. The snapped collar bone hurt, but healed within a month, in time to make his monthly rock climb. After moving to Utah County, he and his best friend Ben started the High Adventure Coalition and organized outings every full moon to get crowds of people camping on frozen lakes, climbing cliffs by moonlight, or backpacking red rock canyons. World Travel brazil, spain, canada, taiwan, china, mexico, honduras, costa rica, aruba, etc. spontaneous mexico. books. not just a visit. culture, language. tom romano's comment about wanderlust. matthew, peter. Limitless Possibilities anything is possible

Search and Rescue

12 years. favorite moments. book. positions. singletrack team. State of Mind adventure is a state of mind, a way of living, an approach to problem solving and playing at everything. student government, clubs, etc. writing. entrepreneur. risks. relationships. some you win some you lose and you can't always count the cost until years later. burn out. "you're not afraid of anything, and if you are, you run toward it." you can make anything an adventure. work. conversation. imagine possibilities. dream. consider doing something out of the ordinary. go for it! more revision soon....