: my hike up diamond head

[Guest guest]

Amber, I must congratulate you on your achieving. For those who have

never been " Rubinesque, " there is no glee in your story. However, we

know what a remarkable mile stone that is.

Last summer I took environmental biology and the accompanying lab. I

expected to be spending time in a room looking though a microscope: no

such luck. It was a field trip deal. For eight weeks were out hiking

every Monday and Friday. One of our trips was to a huge mountain (the

rest of the class thought it was just a little mountain, and more of a

large hill with a bazillion boulders all over the place). I was 388

pounds then. The kids were all so kind to me, making sure I didn't lag

too far behind or have too much difficulty. On the way back down, one of

the kids said, " Jim are you OK? YOU have to be OK. " When I asked why, he

replied, " Because getting you down will be a bitch! " No one knew how to

react until I nearly fell over laughing.

When the psychologist interviewed me for the DS, he asked what I wanted

to do--why did I want the surgery. My reply was, " I took a biology class

that involved a lot of hiking. I want to go back to all those places and

reach the top instead of sitting on a rock while everyone else went to

the top without me. " The guy looked at me and said, " I'm not doing a

test for you, I'm approving you based on that statement. "

And that's what I want to do. I want to go to every trail, hill,

mountain, and valley we did in that class, and I want to hike it all and

make it!

I know what your hike up Diamondhead meant to you, my sister. I

congratulate you, and wish you 10,000 more hikes and rock climbs.

Jim