HOW to CROSS THE CREEK and discover the FORBIDDEN TERRITORY on the other side....

This was one of my childhood ADVENTURES....

I mentioned earlier that my parents recently flew from Indonesia to Australia....

I'm visiting them briefly. Let me tell you about their place. It's the house I grew up in.

They have a great house. It is WAY on the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia. Just around the back of their house, there's a creek.

A wonderful place for a growing boy!

When I was growing up, on the other side of the creek was farmland. If you went to the right locations and looked over, you could see a lot of cows.

But to me it meant DANGER! Someplace I was supposed NOT to go!

So... I just HAD to cross to the other side of the creek. Crossing the creek was a challenge!

It was a BARRIER to be penetrated! A limitation to be overcome!

To cross the creek we'd have to walk a long way along it, looking for some sort of fallen log we could cross on.

Then it was a balancing act....

One wrong move, SPLASH, you're in the creek.... and Mom's mad at you for having soaked your clothes in that muddy water....

I fell in that creek a couple of times. Lost my balance, and toppled right in. Laughing all the way!

On the other side of the creek was the great realm of EXPLORATION. Forbidden exploration too, since we weren't supposed to be there. DANGER.

Who knew what we could find?

And if we were unlucky... a FARMER and his shotgun? My heart would POUND when I was on that OTHER side of the creek....

But crossing that BARRIER was a challenge that we HAD to overcome.

Have you crossed any barriers lately?

Those barriers are still there. They may no longer be a creek or the neighbor's fence (yup, crossed that barrier too when I wanted some plums from the plum-tree.... don't tell, okay?)....

But there may still be BARRIERS holding you back. It's time you made a crossing!

Sure.... you may risk falling in the creek and getting wet....

But it's part of the CHALLENGE!

I'm still crossing barriers.... SOWPUB, believe it or not, is a sort of barrier for me.... but I'm crossing it, man, can't you see? :)

Thank you to GORDON ALEXANDER.... He's been a great guide to me, and his posts should be a great guide to you too.

He's a man who's crossed over on the fallen tree-trunk to the other side of the creek, and who can show us the way there too....

CROSS THOSE BARRIERS, don't hold back!

Dien Rice (still clambering out of the creek from my latest fall!)