It seems I am heading off to do another big peak in less than two weeks. Every time I get close to going I get cold feet and I start asking myself why? I go through the usual means of rationalization which include; mountains are beautiful and they lure me like a magnet, I want to see what my body is capable of doing, we were born to climb (out of our cribs, up trees), we all strive to go to high points (look at people that climb up in the Statute of Liberty, business people who want the top floor office), and the list goes on. None of them seem to really answer my question.
I then back into....I have spent the last 16 years training for mountains and the real mountains are in Nepal and India. Next comes, well I have a lot of expensive gear that I have collected over the years and I need to put it all to good use. Followed by, I am not getting any younger and I can only do these big peaks for so long....and then it hits me! I go back to that childhood day when you made me sit still for one minute. You told me not to say a word while you timed it. It seemed to last forever. When it was over, you quietly and calmly told me that minute is gone for good. I will never get it back. You reminded me there was no money in the world that could retrieve it.
That was it! That was the day that sent me spinning and living as though every day was my last. I have never been able to shake it. It seems to hold true as I am about to turn 50. It still seems as though I am 21. Where did all those years...all those minutes go? They are gone in a flash. As I found myself between jobs, I decided this is the moment...this is the day....
You may have robbed me of one painful minute many years ago...but that little exercise have filled my life with many glorious moments that add up to life of which I am very proud. You sent me running to and up Mount Everest in 2006 (as at the time, I felt it was now or never) where I met my husband Brad. As they say, there is a reason time is referred to as the present....it is because it is a gift.
Thank you! I love you.
Photo: Courtesy of Jamie McGuinness
