"The Climb..."

“We don't develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.” “Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.” “Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I'll show you someone who has overcome adversity.”- Donte PlimptonMay 24, 2019 

  "Seriously dear? Really?"  I looked at the beginning of the trail and the level of panic grew caused my heart to race.  "You're kidding right? I will never get back down!"  King looked at me and said, "If you can get up the mountain, you can get down."  Profound thoughts coming from a man who is a cross between "Grizzly Adams" and well,  just about any other famous naturalist you can think of with the exception of perhaps "Crocodile Dundee."  Although if given the opportunity...
     And so that's how we began the mile and a quarter climb up Mount Beacon.  We had talked about this for a while now.  I have been walking miles, literally miles as part of my recovery from cigarettes. I thought I was ready.  What surprised me was how scared I was to take the challenge my husband had presented to me. I was terrified.  What was this? I have literally performed in front of hundreds of people. Terrified? I believe King thought I was terrified too.  So with one foot in front of the other we started the climb.  This after an initial ten flights maybe more of stairs, I concluded, "I can't do this..." I thought.
     After about 15 minutes, I found a rock to sit on and thankfully we were carrying Camel-backs of water.  I sat down to catch my breath.  I was nearly in tears which were hidden behind my Ray Bans. "We can always go back dear," my husband said, looking at me with hope in his eyes. I knew that tone. It was the "You can do this and you won't embarrass yourself in the process," tone.  Sitting on the rock, I watched others proceed up the path.  There were children literally running up and running down the path.  A pregnant woman was hustling up the path with absolutely no issues. Not even out of breath, SMILING!  There were others running UP and running DOWN the path and I'm thinking to myself, "How the hell is this possible?"  During this respite, I realized the King was looking at me.  "Damn, if they can do this, so can I."  I got up and looked at King and said, "Let's go." I grabbed my walking sticks and went past him.
     The trail was rocky.  It was steep.  There were more rests.  There was more water.  After what seemed like an eternity,  the path leveled out.  King looked at me, "We're almost there dear."  I walked and in front of us was the sky, the view of the Hudson River and the bluest sky and the whitest of white clouds.  I collapsed in the chest of the King, sobbing.  "You did it dear.  You did it." We kissed., of course. We walked to the lookout and sat.  We ate our lunch and just marveled at the crystal clear view.  Others did the same.  There was joy.  There was a communal understanding of the thought, " We are here," One woman had carried her one year old son with her other children. So had another man, carried his infant son to the top of Mount Beacon.  Strangers, exchanging fruit and speaking to each other like they had known each other forever.  King and I rested some more and I looked at him. " I don't know how I'm going to get off this mountain.  Just leave me."  He got up and said,  "Just get in the zone."  Right,
     The return trip down was just as difficult as the trip up.  Thank God for walking sticks and the hiking boots King had given me a couple of Christmases ago.  He knows what he is doing when it comes to the outdoors.  Bless his little "Grizzly Adams" heart. By the time we got the stairs, my legs were absolutely rubber.  My knees were rubber.  I was rubber...Rubber!!!  Now I realized as we finished our adventure, rubber is resilient. Rubber bounces back. 
     We got the car and King went to the closest deli to buy me an iced tea and well, Ibuprofen.  He started the car and I looked out the window.  I had just completed the most difficult thing I have ever done, next to performing, next to teaching eighth graders...I had just done something I thought I could never do.The brain changes when we do something we thought we could never do.  I climbed Mount Beacon. I thought about all of those times when I was told "I couldn't or shouldn't." All of sudden the years of limitations that I had been carrying were gone.  I experienced the top of a mountain.  I am forever changed.

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