I ask myself that question every day as a reminder of what is important. I used to let life slide by, never really doing anything. However, as I've grown older, I've come to appreciate the reward of accomplishment. I've also learned that life is a string of experiences. If you don't experience anything, you don't have much of a life. If you don't get out and do stuff, you won't have any experiences.

I believe it is important to fill my life with adventures. To be an adventure, an experience does not have to be adrenaline filled, or "on the edge of death" like skydiving. On the other hand, it must have some impact on your life. Even if it's just sitting peacefully on a hill observing the ocean, if it affects you in some way, I classify it as an adventure. If an experience teaches you something, especially if it's something about yourself, or it provides you a sense of accomplishment, it's an adventure in my book. With each adventure, I understand a little more about the capabilities of the human mind and body and of what I am capable. That knowledge and the memories of my adventures enrich my life.

I have created this site in the hope of inspiring people to get out and be adventurous. If just one person experiences something new because of this site, all the work I have put into it will have been justified. (Many have written to me to let me know that has happened. I'd love to continue receiving those emails!)

If you've had an adventure, or have an idea for a new adventure, let us know all about it! If your story is short, you can post it in my guestbook. If your story is long, email it to me, and I'll make it into its own page or section. I look forward to hearing from you!

• Skydiving -- This is by far the largest section at Adventure Living. Which sort of makes sense since this web site started out as a site dedicated to sharing skydiving information. The skydiving section contains all the information you need to start skydiving. It also has many stories written about the training process. These stories let people understand a little more about what the training is like and what it means to skydive. Of course, nothing will ever fully prepare anyone for that experience, but this is a good start. This section also contains stories about other types of skydives including solo dives, night dives, jet jumps, and so forth. It also contains lots of skydiving photos.

• SCUBA -- This section is fairly new. I got my certification during the summer of 1996, and have started writing stories about my dives. I have included stories about my certification dives, some other open water dives, and stories about Evette Murray's certification dives. At the end of each story (other than the certification dives), I'm going to include directions to the place, and the phone number of a dive shop in the area. Hopefully as time passes and I get more stories, divers can use this section to find out about cool dive spots. Of course, any stories, photos, or information I receive from other divers will also be posted here.

• Whitewater -- I originally started this section with stories by Ann Pellagrini about rafting through the Grand Canyon and by Lucy Monahan about rafting in West Virginia. Since then I have started adding my own stories (as of this writing, 23 Aug 97, only one so far). While I do expect to raft more rivers and write stories about those adventures, I'm guessing that I will do more SCUBA diving than white water rafting. I'm relying on my visitors to expend this section.

• Expeditions -- This section is for any stories, information, or photographs of adventures that required travel. For example, Lucy Monahan took a trip from Kathmandu to Bombay, I took a trip to Germany, and so forth. This is one section that will expand slowly but constantly.

• Sailing -- This is a collection of photographs and a short story by Jon Nash. He is a professional maritime photographer and this story is about his ride in the 1996/97 BT Race around the world.

• Bicycling -- This is a collection of stories and photographs about Wm Kendall's bicycle tour of the Texas Gulf Coast. This section also contains his story about hiking into Unionville, NY.

• Medical -- On Jan 21, 1996 I had a really bad ski jumping accident. Due to the number of requests I received, I have posted a story about the accident and my long recovery afterward.