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11:10pm March 5, 2012
[Vernal Falls, Yosemite. A set of stairs carved into solid rock in the mountains. Green things are growing there. And there’s a big waterfall on the left side, reflected in a puddle under the stairs.] Doing this hike made me hate stairs forever. They’re not normal size either. Some of them seemed tall enough you had to use your hands a little. At least I did.   We went there for a seventh grade field trip. By the time we got to Vernal falls, one girl had to stop because she was dizzy and the rest of the girls, after talking it over, decided to claim to be dizzy so they could stop there.  Seriously every single one.  I still can’t understand that.  I joined the boys for the rest of the hike up to Nevada falls.  At one point, I think it was on a switchback or something like it, the teacher took a shortcut by scrambling straight up the rock to the higher part of the path. He told the rest of us that we shouldn’t try it because none of us could do it.  But by that point, I was already mirroring him and did the climb effortlessly. It really felt like I just floated up.  I’d spent almost all my outdoor time climbing the tall pine trees in our yard, and even though my arms have always been too weak to lift my weight by themselves, it apparently paid off.  I was pretty good at getting up anything if I could use my feet.  And being extremely flexible couldn’t have hurt.  But the teacher’s back was turned. And when he saw I’d gotten up there, he thought the entire class was playing a joke on him, because I was not only not an adult but was a short girl with weak arms.  And that meant that it just flat out had to be impossible. Even the kids who normally picked on me stood up for me but he never believed I made that climb.   He was plenty proud of me for going all the way to Nevada Falls though.  Apparently not pretending to be dizzy was an accomplishment?  And then he got mad on the way down, because my usual language problems meant I hadn’t heard a warning about ice. And there was this pretty patch of ice with frozen moss underneath. And I tried to walk closer, skidded, and knocked him over. So then there was a lecture about how I could get everyone killed by “not listening”. Which I understand why he said it. But I couldn’t really do anything about it because language comprehension flashed on and off pretty randomly. And I didn’t have the knowledge or communication skills to explain so I just kept going without saying anything. Wow I haven’t remembered that stuff in years.  But I think I would know those #%*^ing steps anywhere.  They made me hate stairs long, long before trying to climb stairs began to cause my legs to seize up. 

[Vernal Falls, Yosemite. A set of stairs carved into solid rock in the mountains. Green things are growing there. And there’s a big waterfall on the left side, reflected in a puddle under the stairs.]

Doing this hike made me hate stairs forever. They’re not normal size either. Some of them seemed tall enough you had to use your hands a little. At least I did.  

We went there for a seventh grade field trip. By the time we got to Vernal falls, one girl had to stop because she was dizzy and the rest of the girls, after talking it over, decided to claim to be dizzy so they could stop there.  Seriously every single one.  I still can’t understand that. 

I joined the boys for the rest of the hike up to Nevada falls.  At one point, I think it was on a switchback or something like it, the teacher took a shortcut by scrambling straight up the rock to the higher part of the path. He told the rest of us that we shouldn’t try it because none of us could do it. 

But by that point, I was already mirroring him and did the climb effortlessly. It really felt like I just floated up.  I’d spent almost all my outdoor time climbing the tall pine trees in our yard, and even though my arms have always been too weak to lift my weight by themselves, it apparently paid off.  I was pretty good at getting up anything if I could use my feet.  And being extremely flexible couldn’t have hurt. 

But the teacher’s back was turned. And when he saw I’d gotten up there, he thought the entire class was playing a joke on him, because I was not only not an adult but was a short girl with weak arms.  And that meant that it just flat out had to be impossible. Even the kids who normally picked on me stood up for me but he never believed I made that climb.  

He was plenty proud of me for going all the way to Nevada Falls though.  Apparently not pretending to be dizzy was an accomplishment?  And then he got mad on the way down, because my usual language problems meant I hadn’t heard a warning about ice. And there was this pretty patch of ice with frozen moss underneath. And I tried to walk closer, skidded, and knocked him over. So then there was a lecture about how I could get everyone killed by “not listening”. Which I understand why he said it. But I couldn’t really do anything about it because language comprehension flashed on and off pretty randomly. And I didn’t have the knowledge or communication skills to explain so I just kept going without saying anything.

Wow I haven’t remembered that stuff in years.  But I think I would know those #%*^ing steps anywhere.  They made me hate stairs long, long before trying to climb stairs began to cause my legs to seize up.