Adventure

A few weeks ago, I had the honor and privilege to attend the funeral of my Uncle Bartley. It was a true celebration of his life. The one word I heard mentioned several times was adventure and that Bartley lived a life of adventure. One thing that was odd was hearing him called Bob because I had spent my entire life referring to him as Uncle Bartley which by the way is his last name. He was married to my mom’s sister who preceded him in death several years ago. I had not seen much of Bartley over the past years, but I thought of him often.

I can only imagine his adventures started at young age, growing up in a small town in Kentucky, attending Eastern Kentucky University and serving in our military. What I remember about him was his love of what we might call tinkering. We would visit their home in Oak Ridge when I was growing up, he had the coolest model railroad, he and his son restored several old cars and he collected old bicycles and repaired them. He loved airplanes, be a model one or the real thing. We had a small airstrip in my hometown, it was grass at the time, but anytime they visited us, Bartley always wanted to visit the airport. I recall one day being there with my dad and Bartley when all of a sudden a plane appeared and started its approach to the airstrip. I recall we are stunned, in all our visits we had never seen an airplane there. The plane rolled to a stop, a young lady gets out and asked if this is the Somerset airport. We told her no, she was on her solo flight and about 30 miles south of her destination. Of course Bartley struck up a conversation with her about flying, where she had come from and questions about her plane. After a brief visit, she thanked us and got back in her plane to depart. Bartley glanced down and noticed that he had a camera around his neck and we realize not one of us thought to take a picture. I believe Bartley saw air travel as an adventure, an opportunity to look down on the earth that God had created.

He worked at the Y12 plant in Oak Ridge, if you don’t know the history of Oak Ridge, it is quite interesting. I heard someone say at the funeral, I don’t believe Bartley really liked his job, but he loved the people. He was a people person, from the moment you meet him, you could feel that. Through all the years, I never really knew what he did for a living, maybe it was a secret, maybe he just did not talk about it or maybe I was too young to ask. I am guessing the work was not the adventure, but the adventure was forming relationships with the people he worked with.

There was quite a bit of talk about his church and the musical groups he sang with. Again it was clear that Uncle Bartley was about relationships and the adventure those relationships can bring. I am just guessing but I tend to think Bartley figured out what so many of us search for and that is the value of relationships. My brother turned me on to a book titled Well Being, it talks about buying stuff vs buying experiences. Maybe Bartley figured this out long ago, it was not so much about the stuff, but the relationships and the adventures in life.

It is people like my Uncle Bartley that make me pause and realize our life here on earth is relatively short and we should be living an adventure and preparing for a big adventure in heaven. The next time you are in a big hurry, slow down for a minute and enjoy the adventure of the moment, I know my Uncle Bartley would have.