Did you ever have an idea pop into your head, and you decided to run with it? In this case, I decided to climb with it. About 10 years ago, I did an Outward Bound retreat with a group of co-workers. We each tried to climb a 5-story tower. I did it and felt proud of myself. I was thinking of that experience and looked up the nearest rock gym. There's one about 15 miles away. My next hurdle was to figure out who'd go with me. I thought of Elizabeth, my cousin Randy's wife. I asked Randy if he thought she'd be interested in going, and he said yes. Turns out, Randy was right. Off we went to a rock climbing lesson. We each got to tie knots, climb and belay. Other than the fact that I let go of the rope a few times on my first go around with belaying (the instructor was there with me so no one was endangered), we both did well. We made it to the top fairly easily on the beginner wall, but it was tiring. Then, we were on our own without an instructor. Fortunately for Elizabeth's sake, I had figured out the belaying by then.
Elizabeth was good at remembering the knots and general set up. I wasn't bad, either. :-) I couldn't get very far on the harder walls, but it was still fun to try. Looking like Spiderman, Elizabeth made it over 1/2 way up one of the harder walls. I was impressed.
I know you're thinking that I can't even prove that I climbed the walls at a rock gym because this picture is of Elizabeth. The only opportunity to take photos was during our lesson, because when we were on our own there were no free hands (one belaying, one climbing). I gave Elizabeth the camera for my instructor-supervised climb, but she couldn't figure out how to take a picture. And she couldn't tell me that until I was back on the floor. I guess you'll have to take my word for it. Or you can ask Elizabeth.
