Journey To Extraordinary ~ The Journey Begins

As we got closer and closer to the departure date for our journey of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, I started getting nervous. I found myself waking up in the middle of the night having dreams about whether or not airplanes could actually safely fly over the ocean. All kinds of simple things in dreams seemed really difficult. As I approached my fears in my dreams, I had the “mental discussion” with myself, “of course you are going to be ok, people do it all day every day and you are going to be fine and you just keep putting one foot in front of the other.”

The human brain wants nothing to do with failure. Scientists at the University of Michigan studying the evolutions of fear say it has to do with the fact that failure throughout history could easily mean that you could die. Hunting, gathering, and even dealing with other people could easily get you killed if you failed. However, today our fears are more about saying the wrong thing in a social setting, getting a bad grade in school or failing at a task at work. But the truth is that nothing great in life comes with complete assurance of success. (The Comfort Crisis, Gary Easter)

It was the not knowing that made me nervous. What would Kilimanjaro and Africa be like? Would we be safe with the troop I chose? Would everyone in my group like them? Did I pack enough clothes? Would my sleeping bag be good enough? Will I be able to handle the altitude? Will I actually make it to the top?

But it also got me excited. Teams of scientists in New Zealand and the UK found that “Confronting risk, fear or danger produces optimal stress and discomfort, which in turn promotes outcomes such as improved self-esteem, character building, and psychological resilience.” (The Comfort Crisis, Gary Easter) This was going to be epic.

My mom and step-dad took us to the airport and on the radio played “Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver and “I’m on the Top Of the World” by The Carpenters. It felt like the universe was speaking to me telling me it was going to be amazing. 

On the airplane I didn’t want to sleep too soon, so I looked for a movie and the first movie I found was “The Mighty Mites” , a story of an orphan football team from Ft. Worth who overcame insane odds to win the Texas State Football Championships. Interestingly, my dad used to love telling that story and every damn time he told it he would start to cry because he thought it was such a great story of determination and hard work and kindness. As many of you know, my dad passed away two years ago at age 76 – way too young in my opinion. After he died, I wanted to do something special to honor his life and the lessons he taught me about hard work and determination. Kilimanjaro seemed like just about the hardest thing I could come up with that would truly honor him and be a fantastic adventure and tribute to his life. I planned this trip so that we would hit the summit on what would have been his 78th birthday. Again, watching that movie felt like the universe, and maybe my dad, were sending me a message that success was imminent.

My first time in the Qatar airport I was astonished. It’s beautiful. It’s clean and pretty and pleasant and I couldn’t help but wonder why our public places in America weren’t as clean and beautiful. More on that another day. 

Flying into Kilimanjaro, Africa we got our first glimpse of the colossal mountain we were there to climb. It appeared gargantuan as it bulged through the clouds. And stepping off the airplane into the beautiful land of Tanzania, Africa was as beautiful as I expected it to be. Even the little birds at the airport were beautiful. It was small and it was a little bit chaotic getting through the airport and onto our first shuttle, but as soon as we started driving we all just gaped at our first glimpses of the land. 

It was, as you would imagine, rural. The homes and businesses looked small and poor and run down and you couldn’t help but think to yourself – this is the Third World. These people have so little. I should be so incredibly grateful for my great little home in Dallas with heat and air conditioning and a soft bed with a comforter and plumbing. I am so lucky.

The land, however, was beautiful with gigantic flowering trees of all colors and cows and goats along the route. As we arrived at our little hotel we discovered enormous trees, which have lived far longer than us, and which the buildings were built around. This is one of the things I have learned to love about “poorer” countries – they build AROUND the natural beauty instead of attempting to remove it and then put it back like we have done.

The afternoon was spent being somewhat lazy at the hotel and getting to know each other better. Among us we had a pediatric hip surgeon and his wife, a pain management doctor and his 13 year-old daughter, a 25 year-old Highland Park graduate, a 44 year-old body builder and mom of 4 adorable pups, a busy Dallas businessman and father of two, and me. Five of us were either 55 years old or about to be. In fact, Michael (the businessman), celebrated his 55th birthday that night at the hotel. 

At dinner we had our first encounter with Athumani, our main guide with Team Kilimanjaro , here in Africa. It’s funny looking back at that night because we didn’t realize at that point how we would grow to love him. Instead, he demanded to look at all of our equipment to make sure that we would be okay on the trip. We were prepared, except that not one of us brought mittens, which he said we absolutely needed and we could rent from him. Not a problem. 

We ate hamburgers for dinner and we shared some cake for Michael’s birthday. We went to bed in our rooms, attempting to sleep despite our nervousness about the imminent adventure, with open windows in the beautiful African air. As I lay in bed drifting off to sleep I couldn’t help but think about those songs and that movie and my dad in heaven watching me on this adventure. I couldn’t decide if he would be proud or think I had lost my mind. But I’m pretty sure he would be proud.

Next week – Day 2

For The beginning of this story Click here.

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