Who Fist Pumps while Prancing?

And today, a day of tiredness and slight confusion, I finally finished the book "Savage Summit, The Life and Death of the First Women of K2."

I've been prolonging this ending for fear of deep and aching sorrow. If I wasn't such a sap I would just say they lived, they climbed, they died...but I'm a quiet sucker for individualists and the path they blaze.

And these ladies, NOT ANGELS, followed their hearts which were firmly connected to the highest peaks in the world.

As I write this I imagine my mother silently shaking her head, worried that my impetuous self will take off to the Himalayas in search of higher and holistic ground. DON'T WORRY MOTHER!

That is exactly what this blog post is about. Don't worry. What drives me is not the mountains. I'm not about the hard surface of rock and ice. I do love the beauty of nature and the outdoors but I'd rather be fishing on a boat with people I care about than on the other side of the world freezing my butt off, watching my toes turn black in a tent with a climbing partner I'm about 3 seconds away from strangling.

Sigh. Yes, after a year of constant reading about Alpine Climbing I've decided...fine, I won't climb Everest or K2. Now in the last post I did write that I never had an urge to climb Everest, that was a lie. I didn't want my Grandma to freak out.

OF COURSE I'VE HAD THE URGE TO CLIMB EVEREST! It's Everest! Who wouldn't? Okay don't answer that. But after reading "Into Thin Air," "High Crimes," and "Savage Summit, The Life and Death of the First Women of K2," I realize I don't have the heart. Scratch that, I don't have the heart for 8000 meter Alpine Climbing.

But I do have heart, its just my heart is firmly imbedded in theater. It's a passion few can compete in my life with. And it's a passion that pushes me to my very emotional, mental and physical limits.

In "Bye, Bye Birdie," I was malnourished and exhausted, dehydrated, overworked and stressed; a train wreck in orange. But I wouldn't give in until everything was done that could be done. I wasn't going to stop until I reached the summit OR DIE TRYING! It's what I believe in. It's what I love. And when I love, well world, watch out.

Of course the 5 ladies who made it to the summit of K2 didn't all make it down. In fact only 2 lived to see another day of climbing. The others left their life on that Savage Summit.

If I was making a true analogy, I would be wondering does that mean that I'm going to drop dead on the BACC Theater at the end of a show? But really, I'm more of a hazard on the road after a 9 hour day of dancing on 2 hours of sleep.

So concerned family and friends, do not worry that I will Alpine Climb the highest peaks in the world, I would rather do jazz hands, while prancing like a pony, fist pumping to "Sweet Genevieve," than getting dragged down a mountain by a Sherpa because my eyes are frozen shut and my brain is bleeding internally.

My heart is here.

****On a side note, I'm not giving up rock climbing though. I can't lie.