My Wild Ways

I woke before my alarm this morning, and as I lay there warm and comfy in bed, I pulled out my phone and made out the day's To Do list (it has occurred to me that mayhap there is something a teeny bit off about this sort of behavior, but since I don't actually need to do it to function [most days], I think I'm still on the sane side of neurotic...)  The list consisted primarily of household-related tasks.  Yes, I was committed to a day of, as I put in on Facebook, "exciting household chores!"

I got up and got on that, plowing through such fun activities as picking up the bedroom and vaccuuming the upstairs, cleaning the kitchen, doing dishes, and starting laundry.  I even picked up downstairs!

And then, around 0900, I got the text:

"It looks like a dry-ish day.  I'm going to climb outside- anyone interested?"

It was my climbing bro, KB!  I was a little confused, however:

"Are you... making a joke?  It's like pea soup where I'm at."

KB proceeded to convince me that it was clear skies down in Portland, and since my skies were rapidly clearing as we exchanged texts, I gave my Self a Talking To.

"Self," I said, "we should go climbing."

"Ugh," said Self.  "It is cold outside.  And I have a whole To Do List of things."

"That is lame, Self.  Go do something fun, instead of stuff that makes you feel grumpy and resentful."

"But... indoor-things?  I am mentally prepared for indoor-things.  We made a list of them, and it's what I was expecting to spend the day doing."

"No.  It's sunny outside.  How often does that happen?  Quit being a damn stick-in-the-mud and let your climbing bro rescue you from being Lame."

And so Self caved, and I told KB to come pick me up, all the while feeling like a wild and dangerous woman who was shirking her responsibilities (but not really because hey look at all the stuff I'd already gotten done!) He gave me one last chance to change my mind:

"No pressure, though.  There is a good chance it will be too cold and/or wet and/or shitty."

"It will be awesome.  I'm changing into layers right now."

And do you know what?  We were both right- it was not just cold but fucking cold, and the first route we looked at wasn't just wet but had water actually flowing down it- but it was awesome anyway (in large part, I'm sure, because we did not actually attempt the flowing-water-route).  Especially awesome was that I got to have my first real rappelling experience (I don't count the one during college orientation- I'm pretty sure that wasn't rappelling so much as being lowered via a belay- but it's been ten years so I really don't remember...)

Here is KB setting up for our rappel

We only did one route, but it left us feeling damn good (the parts of us that could still feel, anyway) and we agreed it was a place to come back to once summer comes around.










(You might be be pleased to know that once I got back to the house I continued with my To Do list, and still managed to get most of it done.  And so you see, Self, you can fit in both play with work and be a well-rounded and Highly Satisfied human being.)