We’ve been married 6 years. So I made him spend two days doing some things I love. In them I hope he understands all of this: “I want movement, not a calm course of existence. I want excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I feel in myself a superabundance […]
I try to think that I am a climbing rope. A climbing rope can take the force of a fall up to 5000 pounds, way more weight than can actually be generated by climbing. I am a climbing rope and I can bear 5000 pounds and that is more weight than can actually be generated […]
Sometimes I feel like I spent years waiting on someone or something. These days I try not to. These days if I want to do a thing, I just do it, with or without someone to do it with. This is hard. I know we are pack animals at heart, but I think about all […]
After a rough week where my car broke down at the absolute worst time (yeah, I know there isn’t a GOOD time but trust me this was exceptionally bad). I wasn’t stoked for a weekend of taking a group of students caving. Fortunately taking a group of students caving is a great way to distract […]
In typical me fashion, I agreed to teach caving again within days of returning home. I was tired. But the wonder was still there, underground. There were so many bats. Man, I love bats. Unfortunately the students did not agree. It was cold. It was wet. I like to think the suffering was good for […]
When I am faced with a decision (or several) I often think about this quote from The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: “I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and […]
The thing you should know about caving is… How to read a map. But existentially the thing you should know about caving is the Wonder of it. I had to play it cool because I was an instructor. But the wonder, guys. The awe. There are worlds down there, under our feet, carved by time […]
