Climb for Hospice

“You’re so stupid sometimes, Robyn”

Gee, thanks mom.

Perhaps I should back up a bit…

My mom and I were sitting around chatting yesterday, and in the valley between two conversations she pipes up and, completely out of context, says to me, “You’re so stupid sometimes, Robyn!”

To which I understandably say, “Gee, thanks mom”

She continued…

“All this complaining you’re doing about this mountain… if only you would see yourself as other people see you, you wouldn’t even question your ability to summit.

“You’re the most determined person I know, and if you want something to happen, then for god’s sake, it’ll happen. There’s no keeping you from doing what you damn well want to do. You’ve always been like that“.

“Okaaaaay….”

“Don’t you remember when you played soccer? How old were you?”

“Um, I dunno’, eight?”

“That sounds about right. Anyway, you had these new soccer boots and they were horrible. You had blisters the size of fifty-cent pieces all over your poor feet. The problem was, there weren’t enough girls on the team that day, so if you didn’t play, your team would have to forfeit the game and take a loss. Your feet were in terrible shape. But would you give up? Nope. Would you quit? Nope. You knew that if you stopped playing, your team would lose, and you didn’t want that. So you ran up and down that field with your mangled, hurting feet in those terrible new boots”

“…I did?”

“Yes, you did. In fact, your coach wanted you to stop playing, but you refused. You convinced him to let you play! He was ready to give the game up, but you weren’t. I didn’t even have any bandaids for you. No one did. So you played with these big open blisters. It must have been awful“.

“Whoa. Really? Did we win the game?”

“Oh god, no. You had no chance, and you all knew it. But you still played it“.

“Well, guess I was pretty stubborn, eh mom?”

“No, I wouldn’t say stubborn. Determined.”

“But I’m stubborn now”

“Oh totally. You’re a pain in the ass now. But back then, I’d say you were determined. So anyway, to make a long story short, I really don’t think you’ll have a problem making it up that mountain. You’re determined, so I know you’ll do it. There’s no way you won’t.”

Gee, thanks mom.

xo