The patellar tendon.  The medial collateral ligament.  The A2 pulley.  Flexor tendons.  All words and all parts of the body that I didn’t know until I needed to.  Among so many others, these words coincide with the various injuries I’ve managed to sustain over the past couple of years, each one substantially more frustrating than the last.  Prohibitive towards the activities I enjoy so much, I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I understand (or at least I’m trying to accept), that to push through an injury is only going to make things worse.  I’m doing better to set the stubbornness aside and rest, recoup and recover from whatever it is that ails me.  But dammit – I’m getting pretty tired and bored of resting.

After owning my truth and formally ‘retiring’ from Ultimate this year, I decided that I would turn my energies towards climbing.  It’s an activity that I not only enjoy for the physical reward, but for the mental one as well.  Each route is a puzzle ready to solve, and to discover how to use your body and the environment over ‘brute forcing’ your way is really quite the reward.  Alongside the help of some pretty amazing friends, I’ve taken pride in how I’ve evolved and grown over the past year.  I’ve honed some of the technique, improved my approach, and accepted increasingly levels of challenge that I wouldn’t have were it not for some supportive words of encouragement, aka healthy doses of peer pressure.

What’s more, is that the sport itself is one of immense support and encouragement from others.  It’s a place where everyone wants to see you do well and where one time strangers will help you through a problem, or come asking you for pointers.  It’s not about competition – though there is that too – but rather about rising above a challenge.  And while making my weekly trips to the gym to see friends and socialize over something as rewarding as a 5.11, what has made the whole experience one of the more meaningful in my life is that Nora comes along too.

There aren’t many sports that I can think of where a parent and child can come together once a week to the same place, with the same goals, and just ‘hang out’ with the same interests in mind.  From the moment we get in the car after dinner, my daughter now sitting in the front seat beside me, I am at the peak of happiness for my week.  That car ride is one in which we discover music, share stories from our days and where she actually opens up to me about whatever it is that’s going on her life.  I recognize that has nothing directly to do with climbing, but to me it is a part of what has become our tradition and something that she genuinely looks forward to as much as me.

It’s at this point that I also must salute these friends I speak of, because it’s not all people who would tolerate having a 10 year old join in the crew. It is one of the many ways in which I am grateful for the people and friends that I have in my life – friends who engage in conversation with my daughter, who challenge, teach and coach her rather than ignore her.  I believe in my heart of hearts that these wonderful individuals already know how much I appreciate them, but it still bears repeating.  As I’ve stated before: I know my time is somewhat limited with my children, and so to be able to find something we both enjoy and include her every week means more to me than I can express.

So with all of that in mind it really sucks that two weeks ago I messed up my finger doing the thing I have come to love for so many reasons.  The moment it happened,   felt the frustrating surge through me almost more than the pain.  Will it heal in time?  Yes, of course it will, but it doesn’t mean I can’t be upset about it now.  I didn’t know what a pulley injury was before and now that I do, I don’t wish it on anyone.  Not that it’s a completely debilitating injury, but it is a bloody annoying one.  The ability to grip onto things is one that comes up surprisingly often throughout daily life, not just on the wall.  From typing on a keyboard, to holding on to the steering wheel, your hands rely on certain positions throughout the course of a day, and to have that ability hindered is certainly less than ideal.  It’s not all woe is me, there are people with far worse injuries in far more debilitating circumstances, but still, I exercise my 45 year old right to complain.

Even if I can’t climb, I’ll still plan to take Nora to the gym during this healing process.  As I’ve said, it’s not just about the exercise and the feats of triumph, it’s just as much if not more about the time I get with her while it’s here.  So rock on, friends, I’ll be back before you know it!