I very desperately want to write a blog that goes in our “Inspiration” section.  How great would it be to inspire?  But  I have not overcome anything, I have not accomplished anything truly great, I have not climbed up a mountain or a big hill or learned a lost language or persevered and discovered a cure for anything.  I’m just a regular gal. EXCEPT, I faced an enormous fear.  I dug deep and found the inner strength to overcome one of the biggest fears of my life.  It changed me.  It was profound.  Cathartic.  And yes, inspiring.  Prepare to be awestruck.  Ok here it is.  I went zip lining.

I’ve since learned that usually the people that are afraid of zip lining are actually terrified of heights.  This would make sense but it’s not my fear.  Also, lots of people fear the equipment failing and then a subsequent fall to their untimely and awful demise or very bad injury but this is not my fear either.  Some people are frightened of the speed and going too fast and crashing into the tree or going to slow and getting stuck out in the middle of the line forcing the whole tour getting held up while they are rescued like a pregnant cow stuck in a ditch, but this is not my fear either.
My fear was, well – fear.  Yes, I’m scared of being scared because, I pee a little.  So the thought of flying through the rain forest in Costa Rica, while beautiful, filled me with dread because I might be so scared I’d wet myself and dribble all over the creatures of the forest.   Beyond the obvious humiliation, I could actually screw up the eco balance. There were seniors in our group so really, if these old dames could hold it together surely I could as well!   We listened to the safety rules, the instructions and the “please do not do this” warnings from the lovely boy with the Spanish accent which I barely took in.  We got our pictures taken by the tour photographers and the whole time I stood smiling and thinking, “jeez, I hope these people don’t keep this group shot and show it around at parties pointing to me as the girl that urinated all over the jungle.”  Can you just imagine?

I made my husband, the estimable Ed Lepp, go first so that should disaster fall, he could create a diversion of some kind.   I was hooked up.  I was told to go.  I want to assure all of you that drink Costa Rican coffee, that you are drinking your brew completely “pee-free”, at least from me.  Inspired?