I grinned as my eyes slid over the old photo of us, grubby but smiling, sitting around the campfire at the end of the climb. We’d been so young and full of enthusiasm. I’d learned something special that day; something that has stood by me through the years.
We were a small group of grade 13 students. Neither teachers nor students were sure of our role in the school system so we took advantage of that by insisting we have a coffee break each morning, plugging in the kettle and pulling up the cream jar that was cooling in the ivy outside the window. For a brief 15 minutes the teacher-student relationship vanished.
One day, the group decided to have an adventure and climb Dewdney Mountain, which was northeast of town. Our teacher dropped us off at six a.m. and we took off, loaded with food which was our first priority.
Initially there was lots of yelling and good-natured shoving and laughing, but gradually the efforts of the climb began to tell on even our young bodies. Occasionally, we would find ourselves backtracking but mostly it was climb, climb, climb.
“I need a break,” I yelled.
“Ten more minutes,” the boys insisted.
I growled under my breath “Better be a short 10 minutes.”
And on and on we went. The climb had lost all of its glamour.
“I’ll never make it. I quit.”
“You’ll be okay” a friend insisted. “You just have to get your second wind.”
Reluctantly I followed. Minutes passed and slowly, insidiously, like a gentle wind I realized I was breathing easier. My exhaustion faded and there was a flow of adrenalin infusing my body. Was this what my companion had meant by a “second wind?”
The summit was just before us and with a “yahoo!” and a lot of back-thumping and delighted grins we hit the top.
Over a smoking campfire, we reviewed our morning and its resulting blisters and aches. We were bruised but not beaten.
That adventure up Dewdney Mountain years ago taught me more than how to climb or pack a kit bag, it taught me endurance. During the succeeding years there were many set-backs, frustrations and obstructions in my path, but I found that with perseverance and God’s help, I often found a “second wind” that lifted me, carried me through my adversity and gave me strength to continue and finally achieve my objectives.
