Sleeping Together on a Cliff

by ERIK ORTON

I told Emily I wanted to honeymoon on the side of a cliff.  She wasn’t amused.  Ever since I was a teenager I’ve wanted to climb a big wall.  A ‘big wall’ is a rock climb that generally takes more than one day, so you end up sleeping on a ledge or portaledge.  Emily and I didn’t honeymoon on a cliff, but we got married anyway.

Emily, this coulda been us.

Then life happened and I got distracted.  However, last year I reset my mind toward the idea of a big wall, which is why I went to Yosemite to scout things out.  But there were several obstacles.  I outlined some of them here.  The first real challenge was, I’d gotten out of shape.  I’m not a big fitness buff and I don’t diet, but I made some small, consistent steps in that direction and wrote about that here. 

Fast forward 10 more months.  Or perhaps I should say, slow forward 10 months, because I’m finally accepting the reality that slow is how most things happen.  I have a high appetite for work and activity, and I like results.  As the song from Queen says, “I want it all, and I want it now!”  But that doesn’t change the fact that—in my experience—most progress and change happens slowly, incrementally, over long periods of time.

As part of this change, Emily and I started going for a walk everyday.  Rain, shine, snow or sleet, we started our day with a walk.  And then we started doing a few stretches and push-ups.  And then I made this video (click the CC button for captions).