Stephenson Family Ties

MONDAY MONDAY, SO GOOD TO ME,
MONDAY MONDAY, IT WAS ALL I HOPED IT WOULD BE.

"Cap'n," he said, nodding fondly in the
direction of the engine, "it's just this
way; I got a glory."

I GOT A GLORY

by Archibald Rutledge

I have a new love!!! And I'd like to introduce you. There's a 'walk' at the Ridge that we fondly call the Stop Sign hike. For many a month now I've been complaining -under my breath- about our Monday routine at Fitness Ridge. In years past, at the crack of dawn on Mondays, we would have initial introductions of the hiking guides to the new batch of guests that had arrived the night before. After the introductions, we'd load 'em up into the van and drive on out to Snow Canyon State Park for their first hike!! Gone are the days where we'd tumble forth from the club van, onto the Hidden Pinion parking lot and immediately head for the rocky, red trails laced with sand.(ie-coral dust) Gone is that first days feeling of unity that naturally occurs to our hikers as they stumble and grumble through the park together. Keep in mind that there are guests with us that have NEVER hiked before. The idea was to never give them TIME to think that they couldnt do it. We always worked on the assumption that ANyBodY could hike-as longs as they'd try, and, as long as a guide would stick close by and cheer them on!! Thats why we're paid the big bucks!! (wink wink) Oh how I have been missing those Mondays!! I've bemoaned their loss.
BUT...I've had an epiphany!!! My bosses are wise and strong and know much more than I about this business. (thats why they get the REALLY big bucks!) Gone now are my days of grumbling about hoofing it on the pavement each and every Monday morning. The list is a long one with all the splendid reasons why its a good idea to put our guests on the paved bicycle path on their very first morning in the program. Now I too am a convert. I look forward to Mondays!! I look forward to the challenge of the Stop Sign Hill. (sometimes also referred to as Heartbreak Hill-aptly named I may add.) Please understand that this hike has us climbing 1000 ft in elevation and it's accomplished in 4.3 miles. UP, UP, UP!!
There is nothing better on a brisk Monday morning, to come to the base of that hill and look it in the eye and decide that its NOT going to get the best of you!! To look at that hill and decide that each and every time you climb it, plod it, jog it, traipse it or even drag your hinney up that hill, you're going to shave off a few minutes from the last time you tried!! What a gas to compete with ones self!! duh!!
Sometimes I can climb by myself- stopping along the way to encourage our guests with confidence that yes indeed, that hill can be conquered!! Sometimes I pick a guest that's out ahead of me already on their way up, and decide that I'll push myself to 'catch-up' to them and walk with them. Other times you stick with a guest from the very beginning, and shuffle with them to the top,or as close to the top as they can possibily go. Sometimes, due to rare timing, I find myself on the hill alone-knowing that there is someone already at the top-already having had their victory picture taken at the actual stop sign- that wouldnt mind some company on the walk back down the hill. So up I go-pushing, pushing, sweating, sweating, panting, panting, until I finally reach the top. Oh the glorious sight of the gate house! What a welcomed sight for us all. What a relief, what a thrill!!
I have also discovered another great motivator for the hill. MUSIC!! Its no surprise to realize the great power that music has on ones psyche. Guests plug in all the time-ipods, mp3 players and even the antiquated disc players are strapped to the arms or hips of many a hiker. They 'plug-in' and tune out the world and the cars and other quests and put their noses to the concrete and will themselves up the hill!! Many dont want pesky guides or over talkative guests bothering them, they just want the music to help them climb the slope. And it works wonders!! I can now whole-heartily attest to this fact !! Hairspray, Michael Jackson, Carrie Underwood, and Elton John and many others have a part in seeing that I succeed at getting up to that distant finish line. (you should see me when Rascal Flats'-Life is a Highway plays on my mp3-- my kids would DIE of embarrassment!!)
If you were a beetle on the road or a snake in the grass or a raven on the wing, you might also be able to catch a glimpse of me danc'in and sing'in my way back down the hill!! Its that time in a workout when the endorphins really do kick in-when you're past the 'wall' of exhaustion-when you get to feeling really, really good; when you know what John Denver was singing about with his 'Natural High'!! I am guilty of swaying, pirouetting, skipping like a child, and boogieing down the hill. This is also when-if you could read my mind-I'd be guilty of sending up my greatest thanks to heaven for my life, my health, my job, my blessings. I might not be the fittest, finest looking, most coordinated woman on the hill, but I feel like I may be the happiest and the most grateful hiking guide there is!! (You know that scene with Mary Tyler Moore,where shes throwing her hat in the air due to her extreme delight in life???? That'd be ME!!!!!!!!!!) Yep-they even pay me for this!!