Sky High Climber

One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time. – Barbara Walters

There are thirteen steps mom has to go down to leave her home and thirteen to go back up, again. She has made this trek everyday for two straight years. She has never been sick, never complained, and never missed a day.  Up and down, down and up, up and down, down and up, every day!

And, I’ve been there with her all the way. I am in front and facing  her going down and following her going up … the better to catch her if needed. And, I am proud to report, I have never been needed. Mom just grabs hold of the stair rails and counts to thirteen our loud and, before you know it, she has accomplished her mission … never missing a step or a beat.

Mom always ask if I want to go first, and when I tell her she’s the guide, she simply says, “I know,” and off she goes.

I multiplied 26 (total steps in a round trip) x 365 (days in a year) x 2 (years) x 8″ (height of each step) and divided by 12″ (number of inches in a foot) for a grand total of 12,623 feet!

That’s how many feet of stairs mom and I have both walked in two years. Divide that by two  and you have 6327 feet going up and 6327 feet going down for each of us.

If those steps were going up a mountain, they would top Mount Rodgers, the tallest mountain in Virginia, by 599 feet. And, as much again to get back down.

Every time we climb those thirteen steps together I celebrate the courage, will and determination of mom.

Mom is my Sky High Climber and there are no limits to the peaks she’ll meet on her climb to the heavens … one step at a time.

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. – Edmund Hillary