#88 – SPELUNKING

The Adventure – Spelunking

I wasn’t sure if I had a fear of enclosed spaces.

Particularly when those spaces are situated on top of those pesky tectonic plates that seem to keep on shifting.

So what does that mean for me?

Nothing. It would seem that I’m okay with the darkness and enclosed spaces, nestled deep within the ground in a land filled with a continuously shifting landscape. That, and being surrounded by rushing water, bats, and hibernating harvesters – otherwise known as entangled patches of Daddy Long Leg SPIDERS which don’t even phase me – probably because I grew up with tarantulas.

I figure that as long as I’ve got my hard hat and a light that does not fail me…I’m good to go!

Except for the time when the light did fail and I was dangling precariously, trapped on a ledge, facing certain death if I slipped.

All I could do was laugh, then direct my friend, Sue, to lay flat on her stomach with her arms extended out to me. Once she did that, I simply grabbed on and was able to bring myself back up to safety.

Good times.

Half a year later, I revisited this same spot and felt the cold shiver of fear course through my veins.

That’s right. Even though I laughed the first time, the second time I was armed with the knowledge that I could’ve died in that very spot.

This time, my dad was with me and helped me to overcome that same tricky spot that blocked me the first time.

And guess what?

I faced my fear and I kicked some cave butt.

And I felt like I could do absolutely anything.

I felt fearless. Alive.