Ohmystinkinheck

This past week my kids and I worked an outdoor 5-Day Carnival/Bible Club in two different parks in our neighborhood. I took skads of photos, but the editing has taken a backseat to a few “must do now” jobs and family time; they’ll get out here eventually.

But that’s boring, and what I really want to share tonight happened on the last day of our event. A local organization donated the use of their rock wall and a couple of safety coaches for the day and Meredith somehow managed to get Kenny to cover her booth responsibilities for a bit so she could tackle the rock wall.

This was her first time climbing a rock wall and I wanted to kick myself for not having anything but my iPhone, but I did pop off a few decent shots to share.

I love to watch how she dogmatically approaches each new challenge. Determined is such an understatement. The girl was absolutely consumed with the climb by the time she made it to the front of the line and they began tightening up her harness.

She listened carefully to their directions, clearly understood that safety wasn’t an issue, and stepped up to the wall while at the same time keeping an eye on the other climbers. She’s a strategist at heart - I could see her checking out where they got the best footing and which side of the wall she wanted to climb.

Initially she was forcing her arms to do all the work, but she quickly caught on that properly positioning her feet to give her a good shove up was going to take her a lot further in her efforts. It didn’t take long for her to figure out how to use her leg power to her advantage and to ease the work her arms had to do.

I was impressed to say the least. Of course, I’m the momma and mommas are always impressed, but watching her figure it out as she went up was a joy. I’m excited for how these same skills may be applied to her life later - not just in athletics, but life skills.

This was a significant climb and she didn’t make it to the top the first time, but that didn’t stop her from trying again…and then begging to go again and again, long after she needed to be back in her booth.

You know I often stop and wonder where she came from - this daughter with a deep desire to do all things physical. She NEEDS to move and stretch and push herself to new heights. If at home we’ve all been inside too long you can see her outside running back and forth from the house to the trees - stretching, twisting, turning and MOVING.

I’m absolutely content to sit on the front porch and watch her while my bum grows wider.

And yet, I guess I have that drive in a different area. Tonight I was coding for a client and I could NOT find an error that was forcing text into the right sidebar. It took nearly an hour, but I would NOT give up, because I knew an answer was there and I was certain if I went through it carefully I could find it; and I did.

Perseverance.

We might not always have rock walls to climb, but we’re definitely not short on rock solid wills when we sink our teeth into something.

Now if I could just channel it to my bum, eh?

10 Responses to “rock solid”

1. Elizabeth

   Good work, girl!!! I’m impressed.

2. ukrainiac

   Waaaay harder than it looks! Keep trying!

3. MidlifeSlices™

   I can’t get over how good the iPhone photos are. Why do mine look so so low res when I download them. Now I’m determined and need to go take some photos with my phone so I can figure this out. Thanks for the challenge!! :)

4. Starwoodgal

   Wow! I could never climb that. Very impressed.

5. JackieW.

   Need some of that for my bum too !

   It’s fascinating she is doing it barefoot.

   Your iPhone pics are better than my camera pics.

6. Angella

   Go Meredith!

   I don’t think I could do it, but look at her go!

7. Angela Tippets

   Wow, I am impressed how those pictures turned out!! Determination is a wonderful thing, especially when you watch it come out of your children. I’m the same way, I have mental determination while my 11-year-old daughter whips my butt on physical determination. You go girl!!

8. Jennifer

   I totally know what you mean as far as how perseverance is easier to come by when it’s something that you are passionate about instead of channeling it into things we know we should do. I’m in the same camp. ;)

   Thanks for writing about it though. Very encouraging. And your daughter is BOOKIN’ it up there. Whew.

9. nursebettylboop

   Looks like a lot of fun!

   What is your physical passion? What was it as a young girl the age of your beautiful daughter?

   I found that when I went back to that childhood passion, I found my physical perserverance! AND it continues to be fun…even 15 months later. The best part??? My bum has stopped growing, it’s actually shrinking!

10. Dad

    Crazy things you do as a kid. When I was Meredith’s age, I remember going to visit some of my parent’s friends who lived on a West Texas ranch with river frontage. It was so much fun and I ran “wild” without supervision for an entire week. Next to the rushing river (without supervision … can you believe?) was a rock wall carved by the current over (new earth/old earth) many years. There was a ledge I could walk on at the bottom and I did. Then I thought it would be challenging to climb the wall, probably 40 or so feet straight up and I did. No safety ropes, no shirt and no shoes (I know, no service either, right?). Almost to the top the hand and foot holds became virtually nonexistent. I lost my balance and began to fall backwards. I can still remember the helpless feeling grabbing for every little rock crevice, knowing I was going to fall. But I didn’t. I found a hand hold. Catching my breath a moment I finished the climb and, get this, walked right back down and did it again. How stupid is that? I still think about it and even today can feel that “helplessness” when return to that memory.

    That said, I’m proud as a grandparent can be of my little rock climber, Meredith! You go girl!