Why Do I Do the Things I Do?

The past few months have truly taken me out of my comfort zone as far as adventures go.  As Mark and I spend “quality” time together, he has found different things for us to experience and do.  Understand, I am SUPER outgoing and love to do fun things… that are relatively safe.  Mark, however, is SUPER shy and loves to push the limits of adventure.  Let me share some of what I am talking about.

Back at the beginning of September, we headed to Hawaii.  Most people think (me included), you go and relax at the beach with a great book, nap a little, swim a little, read a little… you get the picture.  But, when you are with Mark, get ready, you will investigate every nook and cranny and use every ounce of daylight to do so.  Before we even arrived in Hawaii, Mark had already planned out what we would do… everyday… every minute!  I won’t share all the details, but I will share two experiences.

The first was that we had to awake at 1:45am, picked up by 2:15am by the tour guide, and then taken to the top of Haleakala (which is the top of the volcano in Maui) to watch the sunrise.  We went from 85 degrees to about 45 degrees… it was COLD (especially with the wind chill)!  We were to watch the magnificent sun rise in the wee hours of the morning.  We caught a few glimpses.  However, due to the heavy cloud cover, we did not get the full experience of that.  Directly after, we met back up with our group and headed to our launch point.  Instead of riding back down in the van, we were going BIKE down, 26.2 miles, bounding around hairpin curves down the steep slope of Haleakala.  Remember, my adventuresome nature is very limited.

Things I learned:

•        Whatever you do, do NOT squeeze your left hand brake.  I am glad I had to watch the safety video before embarking, as I am a visual person.  I made a BIG mental note, keep left hand on the handle bar, no where near that left brake.
•      When going around a right hairpin curve, make sure your right pedal and leg are down.  If your forget to do this, no worries.  The guide will yell, “RIGHT LEG DOWN!”  You will then begin to talk to yourself and tell yourself, “right leg down, right leg down.”
•    When going around a left hairpin curve, make sure your left pedal and leg are down.  If you forget to do this, no worries.  The guide will yell, “LEFT LEG DOWN!”  Again, you will begin to tell yourself, “left leg down, left leg down.”
•     Fear of going to fast, BRAKE!  I had a very sore hand from squeezing the right brake. 
•       Enjoy the ride.  This took a few minutes until I could trust the bike, the guide, and myself.  Once we descended below the cloud cover, the views were spectacular.  I was grateful we could stop a few times to take pictures and revel in the beauty all around us.
•     Courage.  Find courage to enjoy the adventure.  For me, this is always a huge leap to take.  Once I do, I am always glad I found that courage.

View from one of our stops

Our Ride

They made the old couple pose like the young ones...

The next adventure was our snorkeling adventure.  I really do enjoy snorkeling.  Being able to have your face in the water and being able to breath while you discover the ocean floor’s gems is always enjoyable.  When we began our boat ride out to Molokini, one of the shipmates came up to tell us about “Snuba.”  Snuba is a combination of Snorkel and Scuba.  The furthest you can descend is 12 feet.  A tube that supplies your oxygen is strapped to your person and tethers you from a little dingy that floats up top.

Mark had not heard of this before, but he signed both of us up right there!  I began saying all kinds of prayers as I was a little (UNDER exaggerated) frightened about the whole breathing through the tube, pressurizing your head, blowing water out of your mask thing.  We entered the water and Mark went straight down.  Me, I hung on to the dingy with a death grip.  After the third time of the guide asking me how I was doing, I decided to descend.  Now mind you, I descended holding my air tube all the way down.  Ha!

Guess what??  It was spectacular!  Even when the 3+ foot white tip reef shark came bolting out of nowhere, the views were incredible.  Why was I so afraid?  I have no idea other than the adventure was taking me out of my comfort zone, being in control, and the unknown.  Courage.  I mustered my courage and it paid off with spectacular scenery I would not have seen skimming the top snorkeling.  Is scuba diving in my future…  I don’t know that I have gotten THAT brave yet!

I am FINALLY coming down
hanging on to my tube, of course!

Finally down with Mark, I did finally
let go of my tube :)

An eel peeking out at us

Sea urchin

The next adventure happened this past weekend when Mark signed me up to hike with him, his brother, niece, and nephew.  The hike was to Orderville Canyon.  Twelve+ miles.  Hardest.hike.I.ever.have.taken!

It was a somewhat “rocky” trail, hiking mostly downhill, using ropes to get down to the next level (that usually landed us in some VERY cold water), traversing the mud, and ending up in Zion’s Narrows and hiking about 2 miles through the Virgin River (50+ degree water). 

We saw some incredibly beautiful slot canyons (fortunately NO RAIN!!!).  At one point, everyone asked if I wanted to stop and rest.  My answer was an emphatic “No!”  I just wanted the exhaustion and pain to end!  The final mile was on a paved path that led to the buses to take us back to the main parking lot.  Every part of me ached~seriously!!! 

Happy Hikers

At the trail head

Of course we are happy!

First time going down a rock like this...
I was SO nervous!!!

As I was riding the bus back to the parking lot, I truly was overcome with emotions.  Yes.  I began to cry (as privately as I could).  The exhaustion from the hike really tapped into those protected heartstrings.  I recalled Zach’s last pictures taken at Zion, just a few months before he died.  As I looked at Observation Point, I remembered how much he loved that hike.  He hiked with Mark, Rachel, and her BYU roommates.  In that moment, I really missed him, his infectious laugh, and his love for life.  Coupled with that, I also felt his reassurance that he is alright and happy.  With the warm sun in my face, the beautiful scenery surrounding us, and being with the people I love, my heart felt peace.

Upon arriving at the parking lot, I hopped off the bus and headed for this stone wall.  I sat on it and removed my long sleeve wet shirt, my wet leggings, my wet shoes, and my wet socks.  At which point, I carefully laid down on the warm stone wall.  I opened my eyes because I could hear people talking about me, only to see them taking a picture of me… just great! Ha!

I somehow cracked my elbow  (probably when I was swinging back and forth~not intentionally) as I was using a tether to get down a section of rock.  I remember Jeremy asking, “What are you doing Wendy?”  And me replying, “I am just trying to get down!”  The problem was that I did not want to land too deep in the frigid water.  I think you can guess the outcome of that!

So, why share all of this?  Simply, because…  Because, if it were not for Mark’s adventurous spirit, I would probably NEVER try any of this!   If I opted to stay home, I wouldn’t ride a bike down a volcano going 18-30mph, OR Snuba, OR have sharks circle me, OR stingrays climbing on me, OR hiking twelve+ miles in challenging conditions (for me that is).  But the truth of the matter is, I like being wherever Mark is or involved in whatever he likes doing.  I don’t know if I could do Orderville Canyon again, but I am sure he will come up with some other adventure for us to try.  And yes, he has signed us up to swim with the sharks once again in Tahiti.  And, as Joseph B. Wirthlin once said, “Come what may and love it!”  Life really is a rollercoaster, I just need to relax and enjoy the ride.