Recreation

So, Elijah and I are in the boulder field climbing towards the pass on the Chilkoot trail in sideways rain and I mention to him that this is one heck of a vacation.

He replies, "This is not what I consider a vacation." 

I had to agree. Hiking the old gold rush trail was a recreation experience not a vacating one. Going through the hard stuff recreates us and fun is not necessarily the word to describe it.

I'd like to say that Elijah and I walked out of this experience with some noble tools to help face the hard stuff in life, but then I started thinking about the tactics we used to get through the trek from hell. The girls left us in their dust long before so I can't speak for their coping strategies.

If you turn a fan on full speed and dump buckets of water on you while scrambling over boulders up the side of a mountain, this will give a taste of the joy. Every time I turned around, the rain would pelt my face so I had snot running down my face, but the wind was blowing so hard that the snot didn't run down it flew into my ears. I paid money for this experience and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

So our noble tactics for facing a difficult situation:

1. Lie. I told Elijah there was a pizza and burger shop at the pass. We then started working on our order for the Canadian Mounty at the top. We both knew it was a lie, but some lies help you get through a couple of boulders without curling up in fetal position.

2. Fantasize. Living in fantasy kind of goes with lying. We started dreaming about warmth, food, a tram and Hugh Jackman. Okay, maybe the thought of Wolverine carrying me down the mountain was just me.

3. Distract. We played games, told stories, and asked a million questions of each other. There were times we had to focus on not dying, but sometimes trudging needs a good distraction to make it passable.

4. Make fun of people and things. Humor gets me through a lot of difficult times, but there is something about making fun of the situation and people around me, including myself, that is incredibly empowering. I know it's sick, but Elijah and I sang nine million verses to "Boom, Chick-a-Boom" where pretty much everyone we know got a verse making fun of something they say or do. Don't worry, it's nothing I wouldn't say to your face. The whole making fun of stuff started with me putting socks on my hands, which immediately got soaked and dangled like strange tentacles. We just got goofy after that.

5. Bribe. I bribed myself and Elijah with promised rewards at Happy Camp. Keep moving with minimal whining and there's a treat waiting for you. Candy for Elijah and coffee for me. I'm a pretty easy bribe and the thought of dry socks alone seemed amazing.

Okay. So, none of those seem particularly wonderful tools, but they worked. If there is nobility and recreation to be found it was in something Elijah said. We finally made it to camp and he admitted that he couldn't have made it without me (the feeling was mutual). We kept each other going. 

That's the power of these kind of recreating experiences. Relationships are stripped to their core, put under pressure, and we realize we either trust each other through hard times or we need to shape new relationships. 

We bonded tremendously as a family. That's the noble tool that came out of the whole shebang. We might be slightly warped and twisted, but we discovered we can trust each other to trudge through the hard stuff together.