Mmmm....vicissitudes

There are those times in life when you are very pleased that you are not another person. Like, every time you hear Phil Collins music. Life is so much better, not being Phil. But I speak today of a more specific moment and person, who's life I witnessed take a displeasing turn today.

I went rock climbing with my friends today, all of whom are experienced climbers. Not pros, or anything, but capable climbers who have done it a lot. Anywho, I tried a bit of crack climbing on this route:

As it happens, crack climbing involves a lot of jamming your foot into a crack, turning it sideways, and then standing on it. This is less than ideal care for a recently dislocated ankle, so I did 3/4 of it, and came back down. Right as I was untying the rope from my harness I saw something large fall past my left side and heard an unpleasing thump. Then I realized Virgil was no longer on the wall. Virgil had fallen some 30+ feet onto the very hard rocks of rock canyon.

It is true that there was a lot of blood and worry, but Virgil ended up being okay. Linden, who tried to grab the rope, sustained some pretty bad rope burns, but she is also alright. This was the moment when I realized, despite how undesirable my life may be, Virgil's was worse. I decided this for sure when I heard him ask (7 times in one minute) what had happened and why he was there. Heather certainly seemed traumatized. She has a hard time with people in pain. After sitting in the hospital with Virgil and Linden I have decided two things: One, it is very important to be able to utilize the priesthood at any unexpected moment. I did not expect to have someone basically fall to their death in front of me today. But he did. (almost) Second, life is a bizarre set of experiences. What lesson will Virgil learn from this? How will Linden handle not being able to work for a week? If you look at someone, anyone, you see how they are now. You don't see how they were. What they have done. Go to a restaurant. Look at any old man or woman in there. One of them may have once fallen rock climbing. Or maybe they served in the army. Or used to be a baker. How did all of the things in their life swirl all together to become the now that you are looking at? What did those experiences change? Or, a better question would be, how is your now changing you?