It was a quiet walk from the parking lot to the climbing gym. My friend Marla and I are usually pretty chatty, but this time there were big things on our minds. Marla's fear is heights. Mine is anything involving upper body strength or lifting my own weight. It was going to be an interesting evening.
As we stood in front of the doorstep, I looked up to the roof, about three stories up, and trying to be positive I said "O.K.That's not bad, that's as far as we have to go. We can do that no problem." Marla looked a little concerned.
"Let's just get in there." she said.
Inside, the walls are stucco white with strangely shaped brightly coloured formations seamingly haphazardly jutting out from from floor to ceiling. There are ropes everywhere and people are litterally just hanging around. They are chatting, laughing, swinging. Much more at ease than we are, clearly this is no big deal to them...fun even.
With our sweaty palms and too tight climbing shoes we follow the instructor over the bouncy floor to the practise room. During a lesson on figure 8 knots and baleying, Marla and I learn that we hold each others lives in our hands--because we aren't edgy enough already.
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| Marla, headed for the top |
Marla is first up on the wall. She's awesome. Although she is clearly pushing the limits of her fear of heights, she succeeds. I also manage, although it's a bit of a bumpy ride, to get her down without incident.
Now it's my turn.
First attempt to climb. I fall off the wall. Can't even get up on the first ledge. I hear that old familiar inner voice say "I honestly don't know if I can to do this." For a fleeting instant, I experience that childhood feeling of dispair. Since most of my life my arms have been too weak to support me, my brain immediately tells my body "no" when it encounters a challenges like this. "Shut up brain, what do you know anyway."
I know this sounds ridculous, but I will tell you right now, each step I took towards the top, on that first climb, was a personal victory, a validation of months in the gym. In the end we both made about five trips up and down and ultimately reached the three story height of the building.
On the walk back to the car there was a lot more conversation. There were even "high fives" as we laughed and reminisced about the walk into the gym earlier in the evening. While we agree that neither of us is going to take our newly developed climbing skills outside anytime soon, we are both very glad we had the chance to give rock climbing a try.
Never quit,
Mary
Next Challenge: Mitsubishi City Chase, August 11, 2012.
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@MaryJ_43Project
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