Life is such a precious thing, and trusting another person with your continued survival is nothing short of crazy. I'm not saying it's a meaningless act or that you should never do it. It's just you may want to take a moment to really think about things when you are putting your life in the hands of a guy you affectionately named, Sir Clutsy.
For example, today Kelly and I paid our first visit to Boulder's Climbing Gym to start my climbing training. Every good superhero has mad climbing skills and was defintiely not about to be the exception.
Kelly seemed pretty calm and nonchalant about the whole thing. I, on the other hand, was so excited that my heart was pumping like I just power slammed 100 pixie sticks. At that moment, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to take to those walls like I was the Amazing Spider-Man.
It took about ten minutes for Kelly and I to get our gear and fill out the waivers that say if we plummet to our deaths, the gym won't be held responsible. Fair enough.
Our instructer took us out to the floor, and ran us through how to use the ropes and how to secure ourselves by attaching the rope to our harnesses. I think this is called, belaying. I'm not a 100% sure, because I wasn't really listening. While the instructer was going over some very important life saving instructions, I was focused on the climbing wall with the theme to the Spider-Man playing in my head. Oh, I was ready.
Kelly took her turn and was amazing. When it was my turn, I secured my harness then leapt on to the wall with a single bound. It felt like I jumped about 12 feet into the air and right on to the wall. I was later told my leap took me maybe 1/4 of an inch off the floor. Whatever. It still felt like 12 feet to me.
Just as I imagined, I cleared ten feet of the wall pretty easy. It was after that that things became a little daunting. The hand holds and foot rests shrunk to the size of little tiny golf balls. Sure most people would have given up right there, but I couldn't. I felt the eyes of all the other people in the gym on me, and I knew what they were thinking. They were urging me not to give up and to succeed where so many had failed. As Spider-Man's protege, I couldn't let them down. So with renewed confidence upwards I went, and ten minutes later I rang the bell signifying I made it all the way to the tippy top of the wall. It was such an amazing feeling as that bell rang out and all the people below clapped and chanted, "Spi-der-Man! Spi-der-Man!".
I was later told no one was clapping or chanting. In fact, I was told most people thought I was having a seizure because I was shaking so much. Obviously, those people were confused and were thinking of someone else they were watching. I stood at the top with nothing but two foot rests and my legs of steel supporting me.
The clapping and chanting was nothing short of incredible, but I wasn't here to show off. Just to have some fun with my girlfriend, and yeah, get a little exercise too.
I looked down and told Kelly I was ready to come down. She smiled and continued to look up at me. I figured she didn't hear me so this time when I told her I was ready to come down, I also pointed to the ground with my finger. With that incredible smile she just looked up at me and nodded. The thought suddenly hit me that I was at least 30 feet in the air, clinging to a wall and that I was about to trust my girlfriend not to drop me on my head.
It also occurred to me that as I pointed down and told Kelly I was ready to descend, she didn't move or adjust anything. This didn't seem right. I knew she was supposed to release some lever that would enable me to gently return to the earth, but I didn't see her do it. Of course, she already had and was in total control of everything. She yelled up for me to put my feet against the wall and push out. I started to, but the rope didn't feel secure enough for me to do this. So, I pulled myself back against the wall and entered into a period where time seemed to repeat itself.
I called down, "Are you sure you have it?" She returned with, "I've got it. Come down." This simple exchange repeated over and over for five minutes. It was at this point I realized I went from being the Amazing Spider-Man to the scared cat stuck in a tree.
Sure, I trusted she wouldn't drop me. I even did a mental check to see if I had ticked her off at all in the last couple days. Although, if I had, there wasn't much I could do about it now. Apart from compliment her. Which I did. Alot!
And even though I trusted her, I knew trust alone wasn't going to get me out from that wall. When your life is on the line, you have to be a little crazy. Crazy, because there are a million and one things that can go wrong that are completely beyond the control of the person you are trusting to save your life. The rope could have broken, a zombie could have suddenly ate her hand, the entire rock wall could have come unscrewed or a million other things. This is why I say crazy is a better word choice than trust. You have to be crazy to think your significant other or friend can save you from anything and everything that might happen, but you do. There is nothing logical about the fact that I know my girlfriend will safely get me down even if a zombie is trying to eat her hand, but I know she will. Sometimes it takes a little crazy to get us to do the more risker things in life.
Which is why I finally took a deep breath, closed my eyes and pushed out from the wall. I'm not sure when it happened, but I when I reopened my eyes I was on my way back down. It may not have gone as smoothly as an angel gracefully descending to earth from the heavens, but it was pretty close. Once back on the ground, I made sure to give Kelly the biggest hug. I was so proud of my first climb and for her helping me to get back down safely. Besides, I still wasn't sure if I had done anything lately to make her mad... so best to be safe. After all, I was about to start up a new wall.
I did a few more climbs, and then called it a day. I was having serious amounts of fun, but my hands and shoulders were starting to ache a little bit, and I didn't want to return to work on Monday unable to lift my arms. Besides, there would always be the next time and we still had the Dane County Fair to get to. The climbing part of my superhero training was finally on its way.
