I have a confession to make. The posts of the last few days have been coming to you through the magic of “dripping” because my husband, Beth and I were family camping at a YMCA camp in Kansas. It rained for the entire three days, but we still had fun. We went with two other neighbor families and had 5 kids between us, so it was a great time. Beth fished, kayaked, went swimming, hunted snakes, practiced archery, and climbed this tower right ahead of her 50 year old mom!


Yesterday morning I headed to the tower first with one of my neighbor friends. I donned a harness and boldly decided to try and climb the hard side first. That is the side in the lower left corner of the picture. I didn’t make it past the first poles. It was all upper body strength and with tiny toe holds, muddy tennis shoes and less than adequate arm power, I didn’t make it too far. After watching my (male) neighbor tackle the easier side, I decided I wanted to try again… and so I donned another harness and headed up behind Beth who was already starting her climb.


I was incredibly impressed with Beth. She was the perfect mix of appropriate fear and total resolve to reach the top. I heard a few sucking intakes of breath, a few whimpers, and she listened but did not respond to my suggestion that there would be no shame in stopping before the top. And then she pressed on. I was right behind her and used my hand to push her bottom up a few inches as she climbed onto the upper platform. I climbed up with her (the scariest part being where I essentially had to go out and around, making my body a U-shape, to reach the platform.) We had no cameras with us and so I was unable to document this experience, but it was an amazing experience just the same. I can’t describe how awesome it was to be sitting up there with Beth, realizing what we had both just accomplished.


Most of you folks probably grasp the significance of this event for a child with Beth's history, but in case you don’t … here’s the deal … Think about the amount of trust it requires to allow your life to be in the hands of the person holding the belay rope. Not only are you repeatedly in precarious positions as you climb, constantly at risk of slipping or dropping, but when you complete the climb, you descend by shoving off the platform and being lowered by the person on the ground. It’s a bit, shall we say, adrenalin-generating to simply shove off a platform that high off the ground and start swinging in a harness!


I was so proud of my daughter for trusting the staff members who assisted her climb, challenging herself, and not giving up. I think it speaks volumes about how much healing she has accomplished. Too cool, doncha think?


By the way... there is not one bone or muscle in my body that is working properly or happily today ... And I have two very impressive bruises on the back of my right leg!


Here and here are some other places that offer challenge courses. There are many folks who have tried wilderness programs for their troubled kids and had significant success with that approach.


Photo Credit