127 Hours

Katy and Jack are asleep, and I will follow suit very shortly. I sat down to blog for a bit, as I have three half-written posts.

• Shitting the Bed
• Don't Put Your Best Foot Forward
• Lot's of Time to Do Nothing When You are Dead

But they are going to stay unfinished for at least another day. I don't feel particularly loquacious tonight, and am not going to force it.

A quick note, though: The kids and I watched "127 Hours" tonight. The Aaron Ralston story, first published as the book "Between a Rock and a Hard Place". It is the true tale of a 23 year old solo hiker who tumbled into a back-country crevasse and had his hand pinned beneath a boulder. He spent six days there, deep in the ground, out of food and water, before taking the almost unimaginable step of amputating his own arm. I had seen the movie a few months ago, but wanted to watch it again with Katy and Jack. It was an extraordinary experience.

I remember very clearly when I first heard the story - I had just stepped off a plane on May 3rd, 2003 in New York City, and while I waited for a cab I watched the news conference announcing his dramatic escape from his rocky tomb. It was also the same day that my nephew Zachary was born. I was in the Big Apple for a workshop examining what life means to me and how I want to impact my world, so both of those memorable events had extra "umph".

Like everyone who heard the story, I asked myself "Could I do that? Could I cut off my own arm if I had to?"  The kids and I had that conversation tonight too. Very cool insights into who they are, and into how they see me.

I won't dwell our answers here - as it doesn't really matter to you what we think. But what do YOU think? Could you do it? If not, why?

Here is a really wonderful 6 minute interview with Aaron, if you are interested.

Good night :)

P.S. Here is the trailer for the movie ...