In the early morning darkness of October 5, 1984, I stood as a young boy at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral and watched my father launch into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
At the time, I couldn’t possibly have comprehended the difficult decision he made as a father with a wife and six young children (of which I was the oldest), to proceed with this once in a lifetime opportunity. This was in the very early days of space flight, where the potential risks have unfortunately become all too clear in the tragic events that have followed.
As I think about his decision back then, given the risks involved, I wonder if I’d make the same choice? With the perspective of now being a husband and father of four kids myself, would I be willing to strap myself into a ship with hundreds of thousands of gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen beneath me. The truth is, probably not.
My father has always been a somewhat introverted person and never one for long conversations. Sure, he’s given me advice over the years as any father does, but one of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned from him was not from anything he said, but rather, what he did. He showed me that every now and then, when you have an incredible opportunity before you, sometimes it’s worth taking a risk. To venture down a new path when the proverbial fork in the road is presented.
Now, my calculus of risk and reward may be quite different from that of my father. And while I’ve attempted my fair share of extreme endurance endeavors over the years, none of them even remotely compares to the weight or gravity of that which he undertook.
As such, I’ll likely never attempt a summit of Mount Everest or raise my hand to be launched into space. But I’ll continue to take risks that align with my own sense of adventure. And what I continue to marvel at is the incredible journey that unfolds as a result. So, the next time you find yourself at a fork in the road with an opportunity in front of you, consider taking it.