A Little Adventure, Anyone?

Today Jon and Beth, my son and daughter-in-law, set out on the first leg of their journey to Paro, Bhutan, where they will embark on the Snowman Trek, “The Hardest Trek in the World”. It covers some 225 miles across the Himalayas, at altitudes up to 18,000 ft. at times. They have been training for a year to get in shape and have done a whole series of day climbs this past month to test their mettle. At the end of the day’s climb which takes between five and six hours they ask themselves, “Can I get up and do it again tomorrow?” Because that’s what they will be doing, for over 20 days, with the exception of a rest day every so often.

I learned a new word as they recounted their preparations: flashtrekker - a person who takes along an unusual amount of technical equipment for purposes of recording events and transmitting communications. Jon has a satellite phone which will allow him to transmit a text message at specific times to us, giving us their GPS coordinates so we can follow along. 

Meanwhile Amy and I do our stretching exercises and pat ourselves on the back if we get in a daily walk. The motivation to prepare for The Trek and the discipline to do the hard work to get ready must be very strong and the desire very great. It will be the experience of a lifetime, I would think. We are excited for them.

Tomorrow I will get ready for a trip to Watertown, NY. I will be breaking the trip up so I won’t be driving the 6 1/2 hours in one day. Friday, I will drive to Newark, NY, and stay overnight with my cousin, Nancy. A visit to her is long overdue. Then Saturday, I will drive the rest of the way and stay a few days with my sister-in-law, Lucy. 

My eye is “scratchy” at times, particularly if I spend too much time doing close work. The drops do help to keep it more comfortable. My distance sight continues to improve. I can now read the writing on a cardboard box across the room, which I have been unable to do without my glasses until the last couple of days. And when I go outside to water the flowers, the sunlight no longer bothers like it did right after surgery.

I wanted to get the surgery for my left eye scheduled but so far they have not been able to schedule it. There’s some problem internally at the Doctor’s office. When I called about the appointment, I also asked about eye drop prescriptions for the left eye and the nurse said, “Can’t you get refills?”  It never occurred to me, but when I looked at the prescription label which was not on the bottles, of course, as they are too small, it said 25 refills! I hope that is not an omen that I might have to use more than one bottle of these eye drops for each eye. I sure don’t want to be putting drops in my eyes for 25 months!

However, even that would be a small price to pay for good eyesight. Be seeing you.