Dear Moondance,
For three consecutive nights following Molly's return from the Moondance Leadership Course, we were treated to a demonstration of her most excellent ice axe skills. These demonstrations took place following dinner with Molly using an old yardstick she had fashioned into an ice axe with...what else but duct tape! While Molly never got to self-arrest during her ascent of Rainier, she assured us if it had been necessary she would have been awesome at it. She flung herself to the tile floor, dug in with all appropriate body parts while shouting the necessary commands. Mind you, she did this willingly night after night with no provocation or request from family members (Imagine that!) And as a matter of fact, when her great aunt visited several weeks later and was looking at Molly's pictures from the trip, Molly once again pulled the makeshift axe from the broom closet and began a demonstration.
Self-arresting seems to be the buzz word for the confidence and passion Molly returned home with. Her friends are "bemused" by her need for outdoor adventure with lots of people she doesn't know. They don't understand. Molly, in turn, can't wait to do something equally challenging next summer. Her friends are grossed out by the thought of no shower for 12 days. They don't understand. Molly, on the other hand, knows that lack of showers is yet one more opportunity to rise to the challenge at hand.
Molly tells us how she ran into one of the mountain guides from "snow school" at the top of Rainier. He remarked to Molly that he was very surprised to see her at the summit. This made Molly's accomplishment even more important to her. Molly tells how she was sure the first day that there was one group member who would never fit in. This person dressed differently; he didn't seem to have anything in common with most of the group. And yet, at the last Moon Up, group members spoke of how they had learned not to judge each other by looks and cried knowing they were not going to be together again. And each of them left with some part of the others with them. It was always the most unlikely person who would stop to give you a hand, help you over a rough spot, encourage you when you felt you couldn't go on, challenge you to push yourself, personally and socially. Step out of the body you occupy for forty nine weeks out of the year...and step back in after three weeks knowing you have changed in ways that would not have been possible without the presence of all the others in your group.
14,411 feet -- that's not climbing. It's soaring. It's what Moondance teaches.
By Marty Weaver, mother of Molly and Cassie, Grosse Pointe Farms, MI
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