Panny Wall

Spring Break.  It is really my salvation at this point...and it's almost over.  (Cue in controlled sobbing).

Over spring break, my dad and I went rock climbing.  On real rocks.  First time in a really long time.  I usually don't freak out about rock climbing, because I usually have my sister there.    Anne's scared, so I'm not.

But this time?  She wasn't there.  So I grudgingly took on the responsibility of being scared.  Someone had to do it, and my dad hasn't ever been like that.  It was left up to me.

I was doing great.  We were in Las Vegas hiking through Red Rock Canyon to get to the rock climbing  wall.  I was freaking out.  Thinking: "I don't know how to rock climb.  I have to belay my dad.  I might die.  (This is the worst case scenario that I often revert to).  I don't know what I'm doing.  I'm scared. My knee!  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

My dad calmly ignored my snappy, sarcastic remarks and continued climbing.  He told me that I don't need to worry that he didn't know where he was going, he would figure that out.  I sassily remarked that I wasn't too concerned because we could see the cars and I was more concerned with actually getting to the location.

We were climbing up the rocks when my dad asked someone who was already belaying someone on the rocks.

"Where is the Pantry Wall?" (The wall we were going to climb.)

"Oh, Panny Wall?  Just up there with all the people."

Duly noted.  You're a hipster.

My dad told me that Panny Wall probably stood for pansy wall, at this point I didn't really care.

We get there and it looks like a freaking family reunion.  We traipse up some rocks to finally get to a place where we could hook in a top rope.  We get all hooked in, with the usually harness pain and shoes that you can't feel your toes in.

I climb up the wall and then it's my dad's turn.  This is what I was really scared for.  Scared about dropping my dad.  Scared about doing something wrong when I belay him.  We practice a few times, and he gets to the top.  He ask me if I want him to just climb off to the trail to his right.  I cleverly respond that if I'm going to pee my pants, I might as well make it worth it.  I tell him that I will belay him, I could do it.  (For the record, I didn't pee my pants.)  (I also didn't drop him!)

The point of the story is, that sometimes you can do hard things.  I left my comfort zone in the car, as I told my dad.  This was far beyond what I thought I wanted to do/thought I could do.  This was hard.  But I did it!

(The 'Panny Wall' we climbed.)