Driven up the wall.....

It's the end of our academic year and it feels as if all  my aspirations and my mile long to do list, have been crunched up in to an itty bitty snuff box of time.It's CRUNCH time, and I'm sitting on the proverbial overflowing suitcase of things to do and it's not all fitting. Into this box I'm trying to cram all sorts of holiday classroom activities, parent interviews of the "your child hasn't made it this year" sort, report cards and the end of year concert, which has fallen squarely on my shoulders as well as K's trip to Germany. ( 3 days to go)

So, to relieve our stress, our Junior Primary Department decided that  we needed a "team building " activity. The school that I teach at has a large adventure component, and encourages children to engage in various adventure activities. Running, kayaking, swimming, mountain biking, navigating, obstacle courses and team tasks are all emphasised. I'm usually on the encouraging side, egging little  legs to "keep on going" and trying to instill a little more courage into the faint of heart halfway up the climbing wall, with a "you can do it.." or two.

I was in the lime green "loslappie" team, our opponents were the violently pink "pimpernels". It has been absolute years since I was engaged in any meaningful physical challenge, unless you count my rather leisurely stroll on the treadmill or stationary bicycle at the gym. My circuitous belly dancing hip moves weren't going to be of any assistance here.    In fact I had no idea how my body would cope with any of the challenges, bearing in mind that I was packing some extra pounds.

I was nervous to say the least. I used to be a serious gymnast, but I had assumed that all those abilities and skills had long since evaporated, given that I was say thirty years older and a lot wider. The interesting thing was I just didn't know what my body could and couldn't do.

The last thing I felt like was some serious physical exertion , I had so much I needed to do and I was dead tired. I dragged my heinie over to the adventure center and tried to fake being "up to it".  When I arrived it looked like all of us were in the same boat. We climbed climbing walls, clambered over assorted obstacles, balanced on poles and I found that this old body still has it.

Barring a spectacularly unplanned and speedy decent from the climbing wall as a result of me losing my footing, I was up to every challenge. When the afternoon was over, I was so full of energy and my mood was on an all time high. I found that challenging your body is a rather exhilarating pastime especially if you find out you have mad skills you never even dreamed you could still possess.

I'm so stiff today, and my legs keep giving way as I walk, but my spirit is determined to get this old body moving again....now that I know I can!