Last Friday, I successfully made it across the monkey bars!

Yes, go ahead and laugh. It seems like such a simple goal. Kids can do it. Heck, J- very handily does so without thinking too much about it. But last Thursday, it was a big deal to me. I made it across the monkey bars for the very first time.

I don't remember really playing on the monkey bars before. Sure, I'd clamber up them, but I never swung from bar to bar like, well, a monkey. And at 24 years old, faced with the jungle gym at Lithuania Park, I simply couldn't make it across no matter how much I wanted.

I was afraid that if I let go with one hand, the elbow of my other arm would lock. I was worried that my weak grip meant that my fingers would slip off the bar. I couldn't think of how to reach the next bar, especially if it was above the current one. Heck, I couldn't even hang there for a few moments without my hands hurting. I couldn't make it across. I couldn't even reach for the next bar.

Then I decided to stop making excuses. I watched J- do it and tried my best to do the same. Here's what I learned: Don't pull, just hang. Don't stop. Just keep going, and use your momentum to swing you over.

I did it! =) My hands hurt like anything and my palms were still sore that evening, but I finished it!

Next: figure out how to climb up the pole...

Random Emacs symbol: timeclock-day-base - Function: Given a time within a day, return 0:0:0 within that day.