For our anniversary we typically get all dressed up and go out to a nicer restaurant followed by whatever touring Broadway play is in town (not that we need an excuse for nights like that). Again, that couldn't happen though. There are no restaurants that are open and no shows that are running. Instead, we ordered takeout and enjoyed a sunset dinner on our deck while the kids watched a movie downstairs.
Oh, our kids. They are so sweet. The day after our anniversary I came home from work to see a completely cleaned and rearranged living room. The curtains were low, and a perfectly set table was placed in the middle of the empty space. All sorts of photos of Rachel and I were hanging on the walls, music from our courtship played softly on the stereo, and gentle candlelight created a romantic atmosphere. The kids were all dressed as chefs and servers, and they spoke in fake British accents, because that just makes everything fancier. They wanted to take a part in our anniversary too, and they had been working all afternoon for this. And actually, the home-made meal they came up ended up being pretty delicious. I feel like a lucky man.
*****
But first, a few noteworthy things that you don't see in the pictures. For starters, before going with the kids, Rach and I went alone to a local crag called Dishman, where I finally sent a climb on toprope that I have been working on. It is called Return of the King, and I have put almost three hours into this single pitch, and I think I am getting really close to being able to lead it. Basically, it was a good climbing day for me too.
The second thing is that after driving over two hours with the kids, we took the climbing stuff out of the van only to realize that I had left both of our belay devices in the other car. Ironically, I had taken them out of the "little pack" after our morning climb so that we wouldn't forget to move them to the "big pack" we were bringing on our trip. Turns out we just grabbed the whole "little pack" instead though, leaving some important items behind. Oops. Good thing I learned how to belay off of a Munter Hitch from that random Italian guy in the alps a few years ago.
And finally, Rachel approached this trip with a very specific goal in mind for her own climbing, and she totally rocked it. On her first try! Her scream of joy at the top probably scared all the other climbers in the area, and her happy-tears at the bottom elicited warm hugs from all the kids. So yeah, we all had our victories.
Enjoy the photos :).
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| Happy mother's day! Here we are walking up the trail. Lindsey strikes a pose in her high heels. Maren carries a teddy bear. Jackson is leading the way to the climb he has already scoped out in the guidebook. This has all become so typical. I love it! |
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| Addy did her first lead today. Easy climbing for her, but if you make the picture big (click on it) you can see that it actually has a pretty significant runnout before the first clip. She did great! |
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| She made it up with no problem. I was waiting at the top to help her set up the anchors. Proud dad moment, for sure. |
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| Just hangin' out in the shade. Jackson clipped himself to this bolt and sat in his harness for like, 40 minutes. I swear, this kid is going to be an aid climber one day. |
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| Maren climbing a chimney. It was pretty airy underfoot, and the wind was a-blowin' (closeup of her hair in the next photo). Pretty wild! |
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| Embrace the wind! This was probably Maren's best day of climbing of her life. She is usually content to let her older siblings have all the glory, but on this trip she pushed herself and did a wonderful job! |
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| Jackson. I have such mixed feelings about climbing with this kid. He did his first two trad leads today, and a part of me is SUPER proud. He is actually, like, a really good climber for his age, and he absolutely LOVES it. He talks to me after each climb, and I know exactly how he feels up there, when he is eight or ten feet above his last piece and suddenly the climbing gets a little tricky and the forearm pump starts nagging and you just have to keep it together to keep going. Just writing about it brings me that strange combination of fear and focus that I have come to love. And watching him master that fear, forcing himself to stay calm enough to unlock and execute difficult sequences under pressure is both inspiring and exciting. But as a dad, it is also TERRIFYING. Because I also know what it is like to fall. I've suffered two broken noses, countless finger injuries, and a badly sprained ankle because of the kind of falls he is facing. And the thing is, I feel lucky that it hasn't been worse for me! He hasn't taken any bad falls yet, but the day WILL come, and I have to admit to myself that the reason he is up there is because of me. It's also because he loves it, and it is becoming a bigger part of his life, but he wouldn't love it if not for me. It's inevitable though- it's just a part of climbing. Falls happen, even when it's just sport climbing. Most of the time, they are fine. But sometimes they aren't. Any parent who's kids play contact sports can probably understand a little. Just putting them on the field means they might have to be carted off in a brace. If/when that happens, what is that drive to the ER going to feel like for the parent who not only put them out there in the first place, but encouraged them to be there, told them it was cool, and helped them to practice? How much blame will I feel? But it doesn't stop there. Not really. Because in climbing, the more you push, the more dangerous it gets. And like a drug, the more you do, the more you want to push. Now, I don't know where he will take this, but, especially because of my own background, it is likely he will start having bigger and bigger ambitions if he sticks with the sport. That means letting go of the relative security of bolts and crags and moving into the mountains and onto the walls. It's no longer just a sport at this point; it's an adventure. And almost any long trad route will inevitably have a few places where a fall simply isn't allowed, as it would almost certainly result in lifelong disability or death. In these moments, it is completely up to the climber on the sharp end to judge and manage that risk against his own skill-set. How much do you trust your own gear placements? How confident are you that you can do the moves? What unknown issues, like loose rock or wet cracks, might you come up against? What is ego, or fear, or excitement telling you to do, and how do you get these emotions to shut up? The belayer is helpless in these situations. All they can do is hold the rope and watch things unfold, trusting that their partner has it all together. For the leader though- the one making these judgement calls- there is little in life that I have personally experienced that can match the euphoric sense of accomplishment when you finally top out or make the move. That was all you. Your skill. Your problem solving. Your focus. Your mastery. It's a sort of high, and I love it, and I personally think it is worth it. But is it worth it for my son? How far do I push him to go down this path? Tough questions. Why can't he just play video games or something? Oh yeah. Because I am his dad. Sigh. ...Well, that was more than I intended to say in this caption. |
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| Found some cool stacks of rocks. |
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| Addy wanted to edit this photo of herself on a pillar climb. Very artistic! |
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| Evelyn is our family nature lover and she did a good job identifying all the birds and snakes and lizards we saw. Here is one of four rattle snakes we came across. Best to be careful in the desert! |
Happy mother's day.
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