Leila Called Today

It was 11:46am and I was riding my bike against traffic down E89th Street after an exhausting training ride in Central Park and the cell phone rings with a strange caller ID. I stop my bike to the oncoming traffic on Lexington Avenue and answer it. It was Leila, Wally Berg’s wife and our base camp manager on the Everest trip. When you travel to Everest with someone, you have a lifelong bond that can’t be broken, and the minute I heard her voice it brought me back to the mountain. The sights, the sounds, the smells. Also the calmness and tranquility of life all came back.

She filled me in on the fact that while they did not bag the summit, the team did have a successful summit of the South Summit (the second highest peak in the world) and assured me that a good time was had by all despite Mother Nature getting in the way. She also said that the sherpas were STILL singing the songs I taught them and saying the sayings that I taught them-a part of me is still in Nepal and that makes me feel special since a part of Nepal is definitely still in me. She was calling to tell me that they found a new blue hat to send me (one that I whined all trip for that I wanted) and took down my new address to send it to me.

While it is impractical, everyone should go to Everest, or at least their own personal Everest.