Sometimes, "Yes" is the only answer. When Blair asked yesterday if I wanted to go climbing with our dear friend Pat Callis I replied, yes. Of course. We don't see him often enough and I will jump at any chance to climb with one of the heroes of my own origin story about climbing. Then she said we would meet our friend Nathan at Pat's to carpool and I knew that we weren't going to the climbing gym, which is what I had in mind when I said, "Yes." Wait a sec, outside, ice climbing? Yes.

And in my head I played a run of excuses, I haven't been out for two years and last time I went my fused ankle hurt badly and limited movement, it angered and frustrated, I wasn't good company that day, I'm not who I used to be and I can't do what I once did and I try to avoid anything that makes me confront all of that ... which is when the silent thoughts in my head got very loud. I've been hiking, and in the gym, I did the VK, things have changed. But I was momentarily anchored to the habit of old thoughts and behavior. Seeing me being that old me made me step back to look at the whole.

Pat is the godfather of ice climbing in Montana, and he was at the forefront of rock and alpine disciplines for several decades with the likes of Beckey and Harding, Rowell, Davis and Kanzler. He is 87 years old. He was the longest-tenured professor at MSU where he taught for 56 years until he retired last year. And it hit me again, I would jump at any chance to climb with one of my heroes, a man who I am fortunate to call a friend these days, so I would grit my teeth and curse the screws in my ankle and the weakness in my forearms to spend a few hours outside with him, and with Blair, and Nathan.

Watching Pat climb is a joy. I smiled most of the day. I never clamped my jaw or needed to be stoic. It wasn't just the collective energy, the love and the care, but that certainly played a role. I asked my body what it could give today and it responded with the gift of movement, legs that could take me to the beautiful places, arms that pulled me upward, and heart that did the same. So yeah, sometimes, "Yes" is the only answer.