When I was 22, I backpacked around Europe with my friend, Nicole, for 6 weeks. We did many adventurous things while there, like white water rafting and canyoning. I have always been confident and will sometimes even do stupid things just because it sounds like fun. I always felt that I would be like that no matter how old I grew. Over a decade and 2 kids later, I was about to test that theory.
Day 8- Last night was the first time I went rock climbing. My friend, Ada, and I found an indoor rock climbing gym that offers Ladies' Night. We decided we must go. Neither of us have been before and I was extremely nervous not knowing what to expect. The kid at the front, Kyle, gave us waivers to sign that included that we understand the risks, dangers, injuries, and freakish accidents that could happen. My hand started to shake. I told Kyle I didn't like signing this and he replied, "It's just basically a death waiver." Not helping me here, man! He said he would help us out. He handed us shoes and a harness. After finally figuring out how to put the harness on by ourselves, Kyle came over and showed us how to clip in. We did an automatic one where we could climb and if we fell the rope holds us as it slowly lowers us down. Kyle kept saying, "The most important thing I can tell you is to make sure you are clipped in." Really? Did he really think I was going to climb a wall terrified and not check to see if I was clipped in like a 100 times before I began? Then he walked away to let us fend for ourselves. I was so nervous! I started to talk to others around us and we received advice, support, and encouragement from them the whole time we were there.
I went first and climbed a couple of feet and decided I wanted to fall back to make sure the automatic rope worked. I hesitated, not knowing if I could trust a machine to hold me up. I stepped back and fell a tiny bit before the rope caught. It was a scary feeling but I knew I could trust it now. Ada did the same thing and then we were ready to climb. It is so hard! I would get up the wall a few feet and then get stuck on where to go next so I would end up falling off. Ada, who does not like heights, ended up making it to the top of the wall but refused to look down at us. We tried over and over again until our hands and arms couldn't take anymore. We left promising we would be back with our other girlfriends to try again.
I woke this morning completely sore and unable to open a jar of jelly. It was still worth it.
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