{memories of the mountain...}

My toe nail finally came off. I say finally because it was predicted by those around me that the destiny of this particular toe nail was written the minute we got off the mountain. A rock climbing injury, shoes perhaps too tight, a whole lot of friction going on. When the nail started showing shades of brownish and black I knew something was not right but since it was still attached to my toe,  I just assumed it would heal and life would go on as usual. That was then, this is now.

Hard-Core Hiking, I learned after this experience, is not something that should be taken lightly. There are certain precautions and measures that must be taken into consideration, should one decide to endure in such dramatic activities. I made fun of my guide/ friend all the way to the top for being so thoroughly equipped he resembled a chubbier Inspector Gadget. Who´s laughing now? Whos´s toe nail is sitting in a drawer waiting to be exposed as evidential proof of a sad sad story such as this one?

Well, at least I was able to apply some enamel on it just in time. So now it sits in a drawer, on it´s own but it remains girly and flirtatious. My toe... au contraire... blackish and old maiden-ly. Until it decides to grow a bit and Im able to resort to "damn falsies" (that´s from Catcher in the Rye, Ive always wanted to use it in a sentence!), Im stuck with an unappealing, bandage covered, antisocial foot-header. It used to be the leader, the surface scratcher and the teaser... Now, it´s just a toe. A naked one.

Had I not gone on this adventure up the mountains, none of this would have happened but I have to confess that this activity made me learn a lot (I now hold an MBA on what shoes to wear to what activity). I may no longer have that pretty nail (which Im hoping will grow back in the next decade) but I have some contrasting memories. I reached the top in the end (the very end, my friends got there an hour before me), after some altitude malfunctions and few minor setbacks such as wanting to quit the trail half way up, throwing a tantrum and my best friend almost being pulverized by the rocks, well that´s life right? 

Truth is, if  choices in life were down to going up to the mountains or not going, my current answer would be quite the opposite of when I did decide to do this hazardous and daring escapade. No way, no how! Im never ever doing this again! There I said it, yeah yeah yeah, I reached a goal, I climbed to the top.. It was strenuous,  it was tiring, I suffered like crazy, and on top of it all I lost a toe nail! There are certain things in life that should remain the way they are without hassling around them. Like the rock that -God put there for a purpose and Im not sure you should remove it - rock (The Goonies).. Let the mountain be high and let me be reminded that there are plenty of other ways to enjoy nature...

“Tough toenails, tiger. What you want and what you get are usually two entirely different things.” (Nicholas Sparks)