Dreams Really Do Come True By: Chuck
Good morning my friends,
I had a dream the other night that reminded me of a true experience I once had. It started on a bright cheery day as I drove to the base of Grey’s peak, a Colorado fourteener. I got my gear together and set off up the path to the top.
When I was about three quarters of the way up the mountain, climbing in the last of the scrubby trees that live high on the slopes I saw the tip of a thunderhead coming over the top of the mountain. Knowing quite well that lightning is the number one cause of death when climbing in Colorado, I took off my pack and set out a plastic tarp to sit on while I waited for the storm to pass.
The storm did hit the peak of this mountain with a fury and I watched as people on the top that were caught unaware hunkered down after the first blast of lightning. And then a second blast hit the peak and they just dove off of the top into a crevasse filled with snow. They rode the snow down to the end and I think that one maneuver probably saved their lives.
I continued to sit in my sheltered little spot waiting for the storm to pass. Eventually the group that had jumped from the top regained the trail and walked past me. I asked them if the rocks were buzzing up there. They stopped and we chatted for a bit. I offered them some warm food and eventually they were on their way after commenting about how prepared I was. After all, I had my full climbing pack and they went up in shorts and tee shirts with a bottle of water and a coat strapped around their waists.
It was about four in the afternoon by the time the storm cleared and I had a choice to make. Either to continue to the top or turn around and try again on another day. Something compelled me to continue upward. After several hours of hiking I had finally gained the summit. And what a view it was! Not only that, I was the only one on top and that hardly ever happens on one of these mountains.
Actually, there were a lot of things that were different. There was no wind and it was actually warm up there! Usually on the top it stays in the thirties or forties up there but not this time. It was just beautiful!
I stayed on that summit until dark, watching the most beautiful sunset I’d ever seen. As darkness approached, I took out my armament of portable lights and started down the mountain and I was smiling the whole way down for you see, I had just experienced nature in ways that few ever get the opportunity to. This was simply because I was prepared. When I got to the bottom, there was a camper there who had been watching these lights come slowly down the mountain. He said he thought I was an alien! It probably did look kind of unusual to him and we had a good laugh together before I headed on my way.
So I guess what this little story is all about is that so long as we’re prepared, there’s no telling what might happen. So long as we never lose our curiosity or our desire to persevere then amazing things might happen. I never set out to stand on that mountain and watch a sunset. No, I originally intended to be down long before sunset. But the facts that I encountered on the top of that peak told me that it was OK to do something a bit out of the ordinary. It was OK to trust in myself enough to get down in the darkness.
True, it was a challenge just like so many things in our lives are a challenge but the reward was worth it.
So stay true to yourselves. Walk that path with as much confidence as you can and in the end you never know. That moment when something truly touches your very soul will happen. It may not be a mountain. It may be the one you love or perhaps a moment when your heart soars into the light of our amazing world but in the end when you look back and realize just how wonderful that thing is, you’ll carry it with you for the rest of your life!
Have a wonderful week my friends,
Chuck
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