Being faced with difficult choices is simply a part of life. Perhaps that’s why they crop up so often in Jaspa’s adventures.
Sometimes both choices are bad, and Jaspa has to select the lesser of two evils. Sometimes it’s a question of him picking what he ‘should’ do, over what he’d ‘like’ to do. Very occasionally, its a matter of him choosing between two really cool things. I mean, he can’t do everything, right?
Sue and I recently had the latter kind of dilemma in real life. Which, let’s face it, is the best kind of problem to have!
Back in August 2017 we travelled down to South Carolina to witness our first Total Solar Eclipse. And it was AWE INSPIRING! So, when we learned there was going to be another total eclipse on April 8th, 2024, less than half an hour from where we live, I’m sure you can imagine how excited we were. And we’ve held on to that excitement for more than six years!
In the meantime, in 2020, we booked a trip to Japan. But we all know what happened in 2020, so that trip got postponed. Then postponed again. And again. Yet finally, we set a firm date and were ready to go to the Land of the Rising Sun… in April, 2024. In fact, we planned to fly to Japan the day after the eclipse. Perfect!
Then we realised we’d overlooked something. A bucket-list something (for us). Something that was scheduled to happen in Japan on April 7th, the day before the eclipse we’d been waiting so long for.
The event in question was the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix at the iconic Suzuka Circuit. So what should we do? Stay for the eclipse we’d waited six years to see, or change our plans to include something that’s arguably been on our bucket-list for even longer?
Now, on the one hand, an eclipse on your doorstep is a once in a lifetime kind of event. On the other hand, travelling to Japan could also be a once in a lifetime event.
And while, on another hand, the Japanese Grand Prix admittedly happens most years, would WE ever again be in a position to see one? And although we’d already experienced a total eclipse, on yet another hand, it was AWE INSPIRING!
That’s a lot of hands! So what to do?
In the end, you could say it was Jaspa that made up our minds. Or, more precisely, his little brother, Bisckits.
We’d already decided the next adventure in the Jaspa’s Journey series, planned to follow the upcoming double-header set in Venice, Italy, will take place in Japan. And as Bisckits is so easily excited by planes and trains and automobiles (and so many other things), we’d also already considered sending him to experience Formula 1 at Suzuka for himself. And here was an opportunity for Sue and I to do first hand research, while ticking off another of our own bucket-list items.
By now, I’m sure you’ve figured out what we decided. We’ll never know if it was the right choice. I mean, a second eclipse might have been beyond AWE INSPIRING! But we do know it was a good choice. Not only did we have an amazing time at the race, but Bisckits has have a fun adventure to recount in Samurai Ses (Jaspa’s Journey #7).
The above post is taken from this month’s Fiction Meets Fact Newsletter. To receive future newsletters in their entirety (together with a Free Jaspa’s Journey Booklet including the short story Freefall over London and Jaspa’s Journey images to colour), click on the image below.
Upper middle grade readers can now travel the World with Jaspa’s Journey adventure novels! The first four – The Great Migration, The Pride of London, Jaspa’s Waterloo, and The Hermit of Kennecott – are now available in both paperback and ebook formats. Click here for more information.
Jaspa's Journal 