Unexpected Adventures

Life is funny.  It's hard to how what you’re doing today will prepare you for the future.  When that day comes, and you look back at the path that led you here, it all seems so obvious. 
 
Just as Chaturanga is the story of Patrick Eaton’s “unexpected adventure,” writing the book was my own surprise journey.  Like most ideas we have, the concept of Chaturanga was in my creative “escrow” long before it manifested as a tangible thought. 

As a kid, I loved writing adventure stories.   When I got older, I traveled where and when I could, journaling my perspectives along the way.   As an educator, I have created curriculums in geography, history, civics, and geopolitics.  As a geologist, I've studied the formation of oil and gas, as well as other economic minerals.   And for more than a decade, I have been analyzing, writing, and presenting on geopolitics and natural resources. 
 
Yet, until a year ago, it never once occurred to me to combine these interests… into an educational novel for young adults.   

Of course, now that I’ve finished Chaturanga, I can’t help but wonder why it took me so long to receive the idea.  After all, it’s the very book that I would have wanted to read as a young adult.  The story was growing all along, even if I couldn’t see it. 
 
It’s exciting to think about how things work out.  Life really is an adventure – even if we don’t always know where it will lead.  I’m thankful for the book idea, but I’m even more thankful that there will always be more ideas and surprise journeys.

We can appreciate today, knowing we are planting the seeds for our future.  Who knows what unexpected adventure the universe has in store for us!