Climbing last night I was rewarded with one of my favourite gifts -- the sudden realization and appreciation of someone's inherent good-person-ness.
Keith, a coworker of mine, his contagiously happy wife, and his slightly awkward friend Ron convinced us to try out a new gym and I learned a thousand different things, more than I even expected to, and am more thrilled than I thought I could be.
First off, I learned that pushing as hard as I can to progress as fast as I can to get those numbers up is NOT GOOD FOR ME in the long run. Firstly, I keep hurting myself, and doing so continuously is going to swiftly result in permanent damage. Secondly, I'm building power fast, especially in the biceps -- but my technique is suffering because I'm trying so hard to do things beyond me, that I'm not focusing on the precision of my movements.
I also learned about warmups, learned that warming up should take more than one short climb, that it should be about waking up my body and reminding it what we're about to do -- not just get my heart rate up. I'm considering going back to 5.6's for warm ups, but doing them very very meticulously, lots of flagging, lots of careful handholds and movements, and as much focus as possible on shifting my weight from my legs.
In theory, that is. But I remember how it felt the first time Dave convinced me to try that yellow 5.7 and not put my second foot down until my first leg is properly balanced, I remember what a difference it made. Huge. It changed my balance and my reach and my ability to move.
Dinner afterwards was a group of people getting to know each other in a publike environment, shallow conversation in places and the occasional precariously intimate comment. In the locker rooms, Julie and I bonded half-naked over clowning, pledged to attend a meeting of the Ontario Clown Association together.
She didn't blink once at my tattoos as she stood behind me while I washed chalk from my hands. She was too excited about the topic at hand. Content over container, and I like that a lot.
The strangest things did I have the fortune to learn about these soft-voiced people, and my heart leaped at each lesson.
This morning, I felt like I never did as a schoolgirl -- way back when I studiously didn't give a fuck about who thought what about which one of my consorts.
This morning, when Keith announced how much he really likes Dave, how... How great a person he seems, how intelligent and warm and humourous and straightforward, I was brimming -- not with pride, exactly, but with joy that someone else understood just how miraculous this boy is. Keith's enthusiasm seemed so genuine that suddenly the lights were too bright to sit still.
Over lunch today, the girls and Stuart and I took an extended walk up Yonge to a spring roll type place, and Dave joined us. Their admonitions of his "cuteness" didn't affect me quite as much, but my favourite part was that I got to see him, spend a few hours of what is swiftly becoming such a hugely intense portion of my life, with him.
And in some way, some of my very favourite people were there, and everyone was smiling, and...
...sometime these past few years that very scene became so very important to me.