The Call
The boom of the drum has sounded. As the drum’s resonance echos it makes room for sounds of the whistle of the wind, chirping of the birds, distant owl hoot, and your heart beat. This is what learners heard this Tuesday at the start of the Indigenous People Quest. Although the drum is merely an instrument it’s symbolic power is much like the drum we feel when adventure calls. The call to adventure is the first step for every hero. Before going on a great journey finding travelers, dragons, and treasure the hero must first feel the pull of the drum’s invitation, a resounding question “Do I want to find out, do I want to try?”
I’ve had two notable callings in my life. My first calling was when I was 12 years old and a string quartet from the Florida Philharmonic visited my middle school. I had been playing viola for two years. I watched and heard their strings and their stories and as my heart glowed I decided music was my adventure. I remember saying out loud to myself “I want to be a musician, I want to do that for my job!” That day was my call to adventure and I made my wish come true. Music was how I found myself, how I expressed and how I explored, and it has been my profession. I can’t imagine my life without this experience, my viola will forever be a part of me.
Five years ago as I performed and worked at UWO as a music faculty member here in Oshkosh I had my second call to adventure. A few years after I read a book from a friend called Courage to Grow and loved it and waited, I literally was called to take an adventure by the same friend saying “I think you’d be really great at this, will you start Acton with me?” Like all great calls I had a tough decision to make: Do I go on this adventure into the unknown or do I choose not to answer the call and keep on my path? The decision was really hard for me yet what lit my path was my children. I spent the weekend reevaluating my values, defining what I wanted from my life, and what I wanted for my children and our community. Everything in my body told me that this was my adventure. I remember clear as day how foggy my eyes were with tears of deep excitement and I remember again saying out loud to myself “I have to do this.” This second call led to founding Acton with my friend and to many glorious moments full of dragons and treasure. Just like my viola, Acton will forever be part of me.
The power of a calling is great because it has the ability to begin an adventure full of purpose. Not every call ends with treasure, sometimes an adventure begins and another call interrupts your journey and causes a fork in your path. It’s important to note that a hero doesn’t often only have one adventure. A true hero’s journey is a cycle beginning at home, hearing the call, answering the call, and then after the journey returning home changed. This cycle hopefully repeats and repeats changing the hero and changing the world. As a parent, a hero on your journey, perhaps you’ve had many callings or perhaps this is the opportunity to begin your search!
At Acton our mission is to inspire each person who enters our doors to find a calling and change the world. This mission includes learners, parents, families, friends, and community members. You are a hero worth hearing your call to adventure! Will you answer?
During this session’s Indigenous People Quest will your child be called to explore history on the Traveler Quest track, will they be called to create on the Artist track, or will they find stories of others and uncover their own story on the Storyteller track? Perhaps this Quest’s drum will not call your learner, perhaps they must continue to wait for their heart’s drum and this is ok. Every Quest won’t give a call but one Quest might change your child’s world. I pledge that waiting to see what calls your child and witnessing their heart’s drum beat is probably one of the best part of our parenting adventure.