Honestly, I’m not worried. My mother asserts that dad gave himself a heart attack by fretting about his father’s fate, nervously counting down the days until he hit the Fateful Fifty-Four. But she’s overlooking several more palpable factors. Both men were chain smokers, for instance, and my grandfather was an alcoholic. Both men also adhered to the then-popular steak/potatoes diet (mostly steak), both snacked liberally on junk food, especially just before bedtime, and neither one exercised. Ever. Truth be told, it’s kind of amazing that they didn’t die younger.
But back to me. I learned much from dad’s counterexample. Almost from the moment I left home I began eating healthfully and exercising regularly. As a result, my last cardiac stress test was such a glorious triumph that the medical staff insisted on placing a statue of me in front of their clinic, where it stands to this day…in my mind. Seriously though, I’m trim and fit, and my only significant vice is that I’m smugly self-righteous about being trim and fit.
And so it came to pass that in the summer of 2013 I decided to mark my own Fateful Fifty-Four in some major way. I would do something adventuresome, something BIG. But what to do, what to do? I mulled it over for a week or so, and then one day my issue of Sierra magazine arrived to reveal unto me my destiny. In the back of that issue was a list of upcoming trips the Sierra Club would be hosting, domestic and international. It took me no time at all to find The Big Thing I was looking for.
Ah, but now the stars had aligned. The Sierra Club had done all the planning, so I had a ready-made itinerary and a fixed cost. And with my benchmark year fast approaching, almost any expense could be justified.*
Within mere seconds of reading the trip's description I had made a decision more firmly, more resolutely, than nearly any I have ever made in my life. It was settled: To celebrate my 54th year on the planet, I would attempt to climb Africa’s tallest volcano.
I swear to you, it didn’t seem like such a crazy idea at the time.
I invite you to subscribe to my blog and follow along as I fumble through trip preparations and ultimately describe the adventure itself. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.