any of you that may have read my blog earlier will recall the post Opportunity only knocks once. well, in it i posted a picture of Sir Edmund Hillary. anyone who knows who he is and what he accomplished would know he was the first to summit Mount Everest. now i have no desire to summit the mountain, but i would consider it quite a feat to have trekked to the everest base camp. so that is what i am doing this coming april.
the trip is my dad's brain-child, and i am only a passenger on his great adventure. but i wouldn't miss it for the world. it came about one evening when we were visiting my parents, waiting for my nephew to fly into lethbridge from Sweden. we started talking about trips we would like to take and my dad brought up the usual "everest base camp" trip he's been talking about for years. just talking about it with him he said he thought he should go sooner than later because his window may be closing on the opportunity. rob and i of course told him he should just go do it! dad said that if he ever did he would invite family members just to be fair, but opined that he didn't think anyone would be interested in going anyway. rob and i both disagreed, saying that either of us would go in a heart beat. and probably several other siblings would want to go too. well, we discussed for awhile then that was that.
well, i didn't think anything would ever come of it so quickly. but later that week we got this email from my dad:
"My window is closing on my dream of going to Everest Base Camp--SOOOOOOOOOO --I think I will go this spring. The link below has all the details. This is not a solicitation to recruit people to go but if some are interested and have the time and resources, you can do whatever you want-- you are welcome.Here are some details--"
well, you can imagine the frenzy of emails shooting around after that. as soon as i got the email i told robbie. he asked immediately, "so are you going to do it?" me:...long pause..."i have to sleep on it." well i didn't sleep that night, but i knew by the next morning that i was going to go.
later that night when i told rob i was going to go i was asking him what he thought about it and he said very plainly that if it were him in that situation he wouldn't hesitate. and i knew that was true so i felt good about the decision.
it's going to be an awesome adventure, and i am very excited about it. we'll leave sometime around April 22, and return May 9. so it is a long trek. 11-13 days trekking on the mountain. the elevation gain will be some 10,000 ft, and the highest we will be is some 19,000 ft.
i'm already appreciative of rob for realising the opportunity and letting me go. you will never know what that kind of support means. and i know if the roles were reversed the support would go the same way. we are "kindred spirits"that way. out for adventure, and wanting to experience the world. each step of the way so far he has given his full support, making sure i'm getting the right equipment and asking things like "does it fit right?" "is it too short?" "put your arms above your head, are the sleeves okay?" "are those supposed to be loose?" and constantly telling me to get what i need, and not to just get what is cheap. he's hasn't made me feel guilty (yet) for leaving and spending our savings. and i don't think he will. i don't like to broadcast this sort of stuff on facebook so this will probably be the only time you hear it: rob is awesome and the best supporter in the whole wide world!
well, more details about the trip will likely keep coming. but so far we just know we are going to go and are starting to look at all options for flights and dates.
better go start conditioning... maybe in the new year...
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