I haven't posted for more than a week. I hope no one missed me. Ok, ok, I hope someone actually did. Bequeathed this space to both my guest bloggers but they have obviously gone off having a jolly good time under the sun. La tida tida!
As I result, I have two confessions to make:
Firstly, yes PrincEss, I missed you. I've thought about you every day and been concerned about you. I'm glad you are back and blogging once again.
Secondly, you are (almost) correct. I was off having a jolly good time under the sun - except that there was little sun and constant light rain. Still, a jolly good time was had.
What better way can there be to recharge one's batteries than going to high altitude for a couple of days of remote wilderness bushwalking, mountain & rock climbing and caving? Who cares about the rain? The rainbows in the wilderness were beautiful.
Is there a way to get a kick out of climbing up the rocky mountain after you've enjoyed a private solo lunch by the rock pool at the base of an isolated waterfall where in all probability no-one has been for a week or more? Heart thumping at 160 beats per minute, breathing so heavily it feels like there's not enough air to suck in to meet the lung's immediate need, legs feeling wobbly, head feeling feint - but there's still a laugh to be had?
You bet there is. I emerged from the depths of the rock face onto the lookout above. Although the location is remote and isolated, a small group of tourists were up top. Oh, those poor little old ladies, 70-odd year old gray hair granny types, grabbed their cameras and handbags and scurried off quickly the moment they saw this balaclava wearing hulk climb onto the surface of the lookout from below.
In contrast, a young boy, aged maybe six or seven, ran right up to me with a big smile and gleeful look.
"You're wearing a bad guy's mask!" he exclaimed excitedly.
I laughed. "No, no. It's just a warm guy's mask."
There's a lesson about life in the observations of those two opposing reactions. It seems that fear is not a natural state.
Fear is something we acquire through life. The young have no fear.
That lesson teaches me something about myself. Often, I criticise myself for how little I have achieved with my life. (I've probably achieved more than most people of my advancing years, though still barely a fraction of what I have attempted - and even that is but a fraction of what I have desired.)
Yet, here I was, the only person on this bitterly cold, raining day of near gale force winds who would even think of going on a high risk wilderness hiking, mountain & rock climbing hike, without ropes or safety gear, without a compass, without a hiking partner, fully aware of the dangers though without a care about them. (Even though last time I took this trip, twelve years ago, I fell 20 metres down a waterfall and fractured both kneecaps - then still had to climb/drag myself up the rock face out of that valley.)
Alone, in the rain, on precarious high altitude wilderness rock walls in near freezing temperatures during a gale... and loving it.
I had no fear.
I discovered that I am younger than I previously thought.
5 flowers for this post
Hi, good msg there on feAr for me, now i understand the YoungOnes much better than the Oldies.
Well, bravo to your highspirits -- if all the flowers have that oooomph, they wilt NOT wilt!
Thanks for thhy sharing -- I'll go water the plants while you're rock-in'.
ylchong | Homepage | 24.08.05 - 11:48 pm | #
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"I've thought about you every day and been concerned about you."
Is Friend for Life more than just a friend for life?
Yuen Li | Homepage | 25.08.05 - 7:07 am | #
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YLchong - there's nothing wilting here. I hope the same goes for your plants.
Yuen Li - Are you telling me that, during PrincEss's week long absense from here, *you* hadn't also thought about her every day (maybe by visiting her blog), and that you *weren't* concerned about her? I'd imagine that ALL the regular visitors to this blog had been thinking about our PrincEss and were wondering where & how she was.
As for whether I am *more* than just a friend for life, I've never discussed this with Princess, but I think promising to be a friend for the rest of my life is long enough. Once I'm dead, the promise finishes.
So, Yuen Li, the answer is "no" - though you've got me very curious why you think a lifelong promise of friendship is too short and should be longer.
Friend For Life | 25.08.05 - 10:00 am | #
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Hmm... you seem to have taken my comment very seriously. I'd only intended it to be light-hearted, playful teasing. Apologies if I caused any offence.
Yuen Li | Homepage | 26.08.05 - 1:43 am | #
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Yuen Li - apology accepted. Buy yourself a box of chocolates today, and think of them as a gift from me.
Friend For Life | 26.08.05 - 8:58 am | #
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