Finding Myself On The Edge

by Alison Qualter Berna

My friend and colleague in the parenting world, Eric Messinger, published this NY Family essay I wrote about my efforts to create more adventure in my post-40s life.

Alison training on Bear Mountain

I am extremely daunted by the challenge I face tomorrow, and it was not an easy road to train to get here. I’m sure I did not do it all correctly, sometimes compromising time my loving kids, or my exciting work, or my supportive husband. But I know that when I come up onto that South Rim at the end of the 46 miles tomorrow – whether I am running or hobbling – I will be joyful for having created the space to make this happen. I will be mostly proud that – with my friends Charles Scott and Brad Graff - I was a guide for Dan Berlin, the first blind athlete to run across the Grand Canyon and back in one day. The opportunity of a lifetime.

Creating adventure is one way to ensure we are staying in the present moment. Life passes by too quickly. I look at my kids lying in their beds at night and wonder how nearly a decade flew by. There are moments I want to stop time, and there are moments where I suddenly want to do everything in my bucket list as soon as possible.

I used to think that a bucket list meant “things I’ll do when I’m old, before I die,” but then, almost suddenly, I realized…old? what am I waiting for?!

Now is the only time we have.

I can’t wait for tomorrow!

Click here to read the entire NY Family essay.