Wall Climbing

I had eyed witness Vincent in a wall climbing about 3 years ago, in a little girl's birthday party. At the time, parents were invited to join the climb as well, but I was too chicken to take part in it.

Frankly speaking, I do feel regret for it. So, when my friend LC suggested a family outing for the last long weekend, the idea of wall climbing suddenly pops up in my mind. After some twist and turn, finally we managed to book & hire 2 trainers in that Sunday afternoon, for 1 hour session.

Everything was just perfect from then on....

After some warming up exercises, our trainer tried his very best to teach the kids some basic skills & key words before he allowed them to climb up.

For example, we should give signal like "climbing", "cancel" & "load down" to the trainer so that he will support us accordingly, from the ground.

I'm happy to see all the 4 kids are eager & willing to climb, even the smallest is not afraid. Good boys !

Funny thing is, the husbands are reluctant to go. Instead, they pushed their wife to go for it.

Another funny thing is, both of the big brothers also reluctant to be the first to climb up. Instead, they gave way to their small brothers to be the first.

This pair is the first to go. They didn't make it to the top in their 1st attempt, but in their 2nd attempt.

To me, the most important thing is not about reaching to the top, but the way the boys didn't get scare off and withdraw from giving it another try that matter. Otherwise, we would never get to to know how good they actually are. For this, I'm so proud of both of them.

Vincent made a lot of noises when he tried to get over the most difficult part, but he managed to reach the top after some pushes. He did it in all the three attempts. I can see that his confidence level was increasing after that.

LC & I are the 3rd pair to go. The beginning part is easy, with no problem all the way.

When I reached the most difficult part and didn't see the way to get over it, my mind & my mouth was really struggle. I knew my couch will load me down when I said an easy word "cancel"....

I looked down, and suddenly I heard many voices from down there. I focused and heard the useful instruction to straighten my mind. I heard Vincent's voice too. He was cheering for me. I was thinking, if he could do it, I could too, right. And I think I should show the kids that their mom, was doing her very best to reach the top too.

Taking a deep breath, I reach out to grab the seemingly unreachable boulders, and I heard my trainer shouted "stand straight". I gathered all my strength to stand up as he told me to, and there I found myself had crossed over that barrier.

The best word to describe my feeling at the top - Natural High. Yes, I felt so overwhelming high!

I think my dear friend would feel the same too.

From there, I said "load down" proudly.

I have gain another important self-realization from this experience. Without a strong mind and determination at the critical moment, one will not reach the top.

One hour had passed very fast. Each of us had made 3 climbs in that hour, just nice.

Resting time...

Debriefing time....the trainer warned us of the potential muscle aches afterwards. He taught us the way to relax our muscles & ways to release the ache. But luckily I didn't feel the ache as he had predicted. Neither did my boys too.

We had had some real good time, and we said we want to do this again in the near future.