Hello friends,

This entry is a call for applause for Bruce Candlish, my father.  Last weekend he and I went backpacking: me for the first time, him for the first time in decades.  I could sense, and he admitted to some trepidation about the journey: would his much older body be able to handle the stress of the hike.  He allowed himself to try this trip because he knew it was something I deeply wanted, and he was correct.  So, on Friday, August 3^rd, we left.  Unfortunately we arrived too late to begin our journey that day, so we were sent to a nearby camp ground to rest for the evening (another story lies in that experience, which I may relate one day soon), and we began on Saturday afternoon.

It was a hard journey: we scaled cliffs; marched up hills, then down, then up again; protected our food from bears (not directly – no fighting bears – but through our preparation with a bear-bag); saw a strange creature climb a tree not fifty yards from us (maybe a badger, maybe a raccoon, may be a dinosaur – we don’t know); saw only five other people in 24 hours (and briefly); and more, all while carrying 30 – 40 pound bags on our backs.  My father felt the ware, probably more then me, which can be expected, but what I find exceptional, inspiring, and motivating is his determination to press on: to let the mind persevere over the body.

I learned much this weekend from traveling with my father.  I learned about the power of fear and how it might restrict our actions, and I learned about the power of will to overcome that fear.  Many of you may have seen my interpretation of my father’s story about his bicycle trip, An Unmarked Path.  Watching him this past weekend has allowed me to appreciate his determination in a new way.  I also saw how, as in the story Jack and the Robbers, with the right mindset, a creature (person) can do nearly anything they need/want to do, regardless of their age.

And that is why my father deserves a standing ovation: for his determination and for teaching me through his example.

Thank you dad!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 5:13 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.