My Dentist Climbed to the Top of Mount Kilimanjaro !

I was 31, a young mother with a four and five year old, when we moved to Chicago’s near north side--blocks from the Gold Coast, Cabrini-Green, Lake Michigan, downtown, and old town. Having grown up in a rural farming community in western New York State, it was an adventure in urban living for this country girl.

In my hometown of Bloomfield, Dr. Howard lived across the street from us and saw patients in his home office. As young children we were accustomed to walking to Dentist appointments, also in home offices nearby.

Not knowing where to start to find a family doctor and dentist in downtown Chicago, I followed an add for free examinations at a nearby hospital. It was there I met Dr. David Center. I immediately felt a connection. We are exactly the same age and I appreciated his gentle approach as well as his choice of music. From that moment on, he has been the only dentist that I trust. I followed him wherever his career has taken him. We’ve had grueling sessions over the years from time to time, but he knows to turn up the gas and turn up the volume on the classic rock!

My fear of dentistry kept me out of his office for years at a time, but when there, we always catch up on each other’s lives. Today I told him about my challenge to hike a mountain for my 60^th birthday next October.

He said his family recently returned from climbing a 14,000 ft. peak in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. He reported the very cold conditions freezing his fingers, and his wife and daughters having to return, only half-way up. Then casually he mentions, “Several years ago, I took my whole family and we climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.”

I couldn’t believe my ears at first. The questions were flying. Why? Because he’d always wanted to! How? He researched and prepared well, and hired several guides. When? When his two daughters were in high school. How was it? It was a three-day climb to the summit, and it took two days to get back down. His wife and older daughter succumbed to serious altitude sickness and had to turn around after having reached 16,000 ft! So close.

However, he had hired enough guides so that any one of them would be able to complete the climb with a guide, even without the others. He and his youngest daughter (in spite of severe blisters) proceeded on, making it to the very top at 19,300 ft.! I sensed the deep respect in his voice for his daughter’s mental will, her resolve and determination which took her to the top of that spectacular mountain at his side.

When it was all over, they all went on Safari as a reward. What a bonding experience!

There on his office wall, hangs the certificate authenticating his climb. I’d walked by it many times and not noticed. Today it came alive.

Each step I take in this journey awakens life all around me…awakens me!

One step at a time.

Monday Oct. 25^thTook Harold to the airport mid-morning and had French class in early afternoon. In the past, I would have said, “No time to squeeze in a workout today.” Priorities, priorities…I squeezed it in just fine! New mind set--just do it!
On my own: Cardio warm up, seated row 40lbs 3 sets 12x, same sets and x’s for chest press, (8 lb.) lateral shoulder raise, tri-ceps --all in a circuit (3 actually.) Biceps (also 8 lb.) balanced on one foot. Leg curl--heels on stability ball, etc. More cardio, core and stretching.