Monday, August 28, 2006
RE: Dave email - yes. mention of award - no.
You could say that sending your mostly grown up kid off to climb the Crestone Needle is akin to letting a toddler play in traffic. Sounds bad enough, but if rush hour hasn't yet been invented and the traffic is mostly horse drawn, then it's a fairly calculated risk. In the hectic world of six lane highways, most of us will, sooner or later, go missing while we look for an island. Tahiti might qualify, but then so would the summit of most any mountain, or even your bedroom closet, with the light turned off. And then there are the islands of time...an evening without T.V., or the inconvenience of having the car in the shop, which leads you to walk or ride a bike. Even a train whistle at night (Calgary has its share) can pull you into an island of reverie and reflection...those dusty memory shelves that we seem to stumble into in our dreams. May be that it's less important what we do than what we don't do. If you ever find yourself screaming "Stop the world. I want to get off." you just might find yourself next in line to climb the Crestone Needle.
You could say that sending your mostly grown up kid off to climb the Crestone Needle is akin to letting a toddler play in traffic. Sounds bad enough, but if rush hour hasn't yet been invented and the traffic is mostly horse drawn, then it's a fairly calculated risk. In the hectic world of six lane highways, most of us will, sooner or later, go missing while we look for an island. Tahiti might qualify, but then so would the summit of most any mountain, or even your bedroom closet, with the light turned off. And then there are the islands of time...an evening without T.V., or the inconvenience of having the car in the shop, which leads you to walk or ride a bike. Even a train whistle at night (Calgary has its share) can pull you into an island of reverie and reflection...those dusty memory shelves that we seem to stumble into in our dreams. May be that it's less important what we do than what we don't do. If you ever find yourself screaming "Stop the world. I want to get off." you just might find yourself next in line to climb the Crestone Needle.
