Izta and Orizaba

Mountains are living things they breathe, think, listen and react some are male and some are female on my last set of climbs I was able to visit each gender.

If I am to tell you about Izta I believe you need to know her legend first. The Legend of Popocatepetl and Iztacchuatl In Aztec mythology, the volcanoes were once humans who were deeply in love. This legend features two star-crossed lovers, the young brave warrior Popocatpetl and the beautiful princess Iztacchuatl. The father of Iztacchuatl, a mighty ruler, placed a demanding condition upon Popocatpetl before he could take Iztacchuatl as his bride. His mandate required that Popocatpetl first engage in battle against the tribe’s enemy and return victorious. Variations of the legend include the added stipulation that Popocatpetl needed to return with the vanquished enemies head as proof of his success.

The story continues with Popocatpetl setting off for battle with Iztacchuatl waiting for her beloveds return. Treacherously, a rival of Popocatpetl sends a false message back to the ruler that the warrior has been slain when in fact; Popocatpetl has won the battle and is ready to return to his Iztacchuatl. However, the princess upon hearing the false news falls ill and succumbs to her deep sorrow, dying of a broken heart. When Popocatpetl returns triumphant to his people only to encounter his beloved’s death, his heartbreak is inconsolable.

He carries Iztacchuatl body to the mountains whereupon he has a funeral pyre built for both himself and his princess. Grief-stricken beyond measure, Popocatpetl dies next to his beloved. The Gods, touched by the lover’s plight, turn the humans into mountains, so that they may finally be together. They remain so to this day with Popocatpetl residing over his princess Iztacchuatl, while she lay asleep. On occasion, Popo will spew ash, reminding those watching that he is always in attendance, that he will never leave the side of his beloved Izta. < I was fortunate enough to see Popo erupt from the top of Izta to see a volcano erupt from above its crater is incredible not to mention a site I am sure only a few have witnessed.

Mountains can turn back the best climbers in many ways usually in the form of altitude sickness which on this trip happened to my guide and friend Eric at 12500 feet he was done due to illness. A mountain can deny you access however they wish and I believe you only make it to their summit with their blessing in your path can be illness, winds, storms, rock slides, mud slides avalanches or just plain old lack of courage and confidence. Izta allowed me to summit but only after two days of her telling me I was not strong enough a common game that all mountains play. At her top she is absolutely beautiful and from the bottom she can be seen from two hours away by car just resting next to Popo who is always vigilant and watching her.

Pico De Orizaba or just plain Orizaba is all male and a total ass kicker he came at us with all the above mentioned tricks and more. From the start lack of sleep due to mouse infestation at base camp, snow, a frozen creek that broke loose revealing rock so you can then pick your poison no crampons on the ice or trying to walk on blades on the rock, snow, a rock the size of a VW bug falling at us from above or climbing a 2400 foot ice glacier in 40 mph winds at a 35% angle, my friend Mark going down due to altitude sickness at the top and throwing up for the next 6 hours, a mud slide and a mind game that started the night before summit attempt and is still rattling through my head. Orizaba at 18490 is not the tallest but I own 60lbs of gear and he took 54lbs of it to climb. Eric has been climbing for ever is a professional and summated over 50 times including twice on Everest and from his mouth to my ear "that was the most technical climb I have ever made."

I believe I left a little of my soul on Orizaba not to mention a pound of flesh to mention this climb to most people they have no idea what you are speaking of as they only know the big names in mountains well I tell you after my fourth summit Orizaba is as tough as they come. 

 Just the start of Izta

 I will never see enough sunrises from a mountain top it is truly staring at the face of God

 Orizaba not happy 19 came only 7 made it 4 were professional climbers 2 was me and my new friend Mark

 Tied down and just breathe

 A lonely summit

 Mark Z went down and I prayed

 Majestic

 As always I carve into the top of all my summits Mark Loves Nancy I think Izta liked this Orizaba however did not like much of anything

 All alone at the top of the world

 What goes up must go down

Today I am Thankful

I wish I was fishing with my grand pa

I wish I was drinking Crown with Troy shooting pool till the sun comes up

I wish we were starting a fight tonight in a local club

I wish I was talking to Tommy about broken hearts

I wish I could hear Brad tell me it was going to be all right

I wish I was watching my grandmother rolling out dumplings on the dining room table

I wish I could still smell her cherry pie

I wish my father in law would call this coming Sunday night and ask me if I was watching skin a max

I wish he was here to tell me what to do next

I wish my mother in law would call one more time with absolutely nothing to say

I wish she knew how pretty she was

I wish I was walking down the street with my grand pa to see a ball game

I wish when I make a small sound with my mouth that my favorite dog would still come running from where ever she was just to see if I’m ok

I wish my grand father Pressley's humor was still in my ear

I wish I was sitting with my granny drinking sassafras tea listening to stories of times before my birth

I wish I was climbing granny’s cherry tree eating until I was sick

Today I am thankful that I have these memories that can never be duplicated yet their faces continue to fade from my mind. Today I am thankful to have their stories in my heart but their voices are starting to fade. Today I am thankful to be here to tell you to make memories with the ones you love and tell them every chance you get “I love you!”

Put up or Shut up

I recently listened to a radio show in which the female host challenged a caller with: “what have you done except run your mouth every four year during the Presidential elections?”, after a pause to give this some thought I was actually very proud of my own answer.

I have had yard signs placed at my home for smaller local elections; I have donated to candidates that were underfunded and not in  the lead elections, I have donated time and effort to two candidates, I have called my Senators and voiced my opinions, I have sent emails to officials, I have posted on a blog all of the US Senators phone numbers and challenged people to call, I was an original member of THE Indiana Tea Party movement but have since moved on due to not agreeing with all of their agendas, I have voted in every election since I was eight teen and not straight ticket and not always conservative but more in line with the constitutionalist, I have been to fund raisers and I can go on.

So my questions to all of you out there that think you are engaged in politics where will your passion be in say a year?

The Lights

A little more than ten years ago I helped rebuild two ball diamonds at Lawrence Park they have since reverted back to the previous state of unusable but that is a different story. This story is about the feeling that comes over you when you are playing at night under the lights and when the game is over and you are charged with the upkeep of the diamond you are also the guy that shuts off the lights it is a very big clack  sound when you do this followed by the lights slowly fading away and then the park is quite, dark and calm and it seems as if there are ghost players out there still playing the game for only those of us who truly love it and understand that the game never ends just the faces playing it but maybe just maybe the ones that truly love the game well their sprit is always out there making the next play.

Hank threw the ball to me at about two years old and not just a sling like a toddler will do but a straight over hand throw and Nancy and I were both like oh wow we have a ball player. He played at The Y for T Ball then little League then All Stars, then Travel Baseball then Middle School, then High School then Show Case Camps for prospects and then College. At one point around twelve years old he played in nearly a hundred games in one season. So yes there has been many an hour spent on ball diamonds by the Pressley’s.

Last year Hank appeared in several fall ball games for Wabash College and was set to travel with the varsity team as a freshman when he broke his leg in two places I knew his career was in jeopardy but he rehabbed worked out all off season and came back as strong as I had seen him and with one sixty yard sprint this last week a torn hamstring and back out for the fall I knew before he said the words I had seen his last game.

So just like the lights on the field a sound goes off in my head and nothing but the memory’s left to replay over and over like the spirits of the other players who love the game they just keep playing. Thank you Hank for giving me nearly eight teen years of watching you play at a very high level and always with a passion that you wore on your sleeve. Once a Baseball guy always a Baseball guy, I love you son and I am proud of you. Touch-em all son, Touch-em all. 

The love you know if handled correctly grows and matures and blossoms.

You see a girl on the showroom at work and she smiles at you her cheeks rise up so high that her beautiful blue eyes disappear and your first thoughts are more on the side of lust than love but these thoughts are different they actually take root in your mind and heart they don’t just disappear like the other girls that are cute you notice while walking through a normal day these thoughts stay and become feelings and emotions and desire these thoughts take root.

Your first child arrives and everyone in the world has told you how much you will love them and yet you have no understanding of what they have said until in the delivery room you are handed that child and with no delay tears flow down your face because a new love different than any other you have known a love that cannot be contained or wavered feels your heart again a heart that did not know of such a love one that says to the world this is my child and I will protect and love this child forever and no one or thing will ever change that.

Your other children come and on each arrival the same love as before yet different because your heart just keeps growing and making room for another it is a love that knows we are now making a statement to the world we are a family.

Then your grand baby is placed in your arms and this time you were prepared for that strength you have embraced that is found in love but you had no idea that once again the love you have has no limits and is strong as ever it is as beautiful emotion as you will ever know it is the love that started nearly twenty seven years before with the girl with blue eyes that has grown, matured and blossomed into a family tree that has roots that no person or thing could ever un-root no this love has taken hold and it grows like any other living thing that has been properly taken care of. Yes there are storms along the way but like any living thing a storm will damage it bend it and maybe even hurt it but with the proper care Love Grows.

To see your wife hold that grandchild nearly twenty five years after seeing her hold your own child you see a glow on her that is as beautiful as the first day you saw her it is one now on a woman who has paid her sacrifices to a world that will try and get in the way of a family trying to grow and she has beat that world at every turn and has a love in her  for a family that she has grown that only matches your own and you can only think Thank You Lord for this is perfect love.