So, I feel like in this day and age, with people self promoting(myself included) we can very easily lose sight of how some people struggle. Yes, I am fully aware of Haiti, and my heart breaks for them. But the truth is we all move on a week after it happens, and since I'm not there, its hard to stay connected to that. For me, when I see someone who is having a hard time, thats when I feel like the world gets a bit tilted. This past weekend, I was in Washington DC for the ABS National Bouldering comp. In my world of gym climbing and comps, its as big as it gets. I went to compete in the Citizen National comp and hopefully raise awareness of disabled climbers. Athletes with Disabilities paid for me and two other climbers of my choosing to come along. I called my friend McKayla in MI to see if she could come out. She is a college student who because of cancer lost most of her right leg. I say most since its at the hip, which means most of that side is a metal leg. She is not tall, in fact she would be considered short I guess, but whenever I'm around her, I think she is taller then me. Her spirit is so bright, its like she vibrates goodness. While I climbed my routes that day she would wait on the mat, planning where she wanted to be. For her to even get to the route, she has to crawl/hope over to the wall, then pull herself up to the start holds, THEN start the problem?! All day she would get spit off, and all day she would go back and try again. She topped out 3 three problems that day, and never once did I hear her complain about the foot holds, the reaches, nothing. The other climber with us, also very gifted, missing a leg, did complain about how the routes were set, and the top outs. I just kept looking at her, and she would smile that huge grin like she knew something I didn't. I think she does. At the end of the day, she was still happy. She bummed a GU from me to get some energy, then she climbed some routes. Just for fun. Sometimes we see things that really throw us off, that make us realize its not all that bad, the stuff we deal with. Haiti did that. McKayla DOES that. Peace, c