Tough Enough

Tough Enough

During his week-long trip from Kansas to Colorado with his wife and teenaged son, Oscar let his beard grow in. That's why he looked so facially awkward on the trip. There's probably a support group somewhere for this condition: not-quite-a-beard. But you can only be in the support group for a few weeks before they give you a pat on the back and tell you that you're cured, and you have to go away because there are people out there with real problems.

Oscar thought the whole beard thing would give him that tough, outdoorsy, Western look for his trip. But Oscar wasn't in Kansas any more. Looking tough was a little difficult on this particular trip because he has a pronounced fear of heights. So when the family hiked up six-inch-wide switchback trails on an exposed Rocky Mountain ridge at ten thousand feet, his son skipped along, head down and checking for cell phone service, and his wife floated like a ballerina across gaps in the trail over head-spinning dropoffs, but Oscar had to hug his hiking poles click-clacking on the rocks while he sobbed quietly--well, he just didn't look much like the Marlboro Man.

Oscar's fear of heights was most entertaining when the family visited the famous ancient Pueblo cliff dwellings carved into canyons a thousand feet above the river. His beard didn't help much when he cowered against the back wall while grandparent tourists teetered happily half a step from certain death as their eight-year-old grandson yanked on his arm, dragging him toward the edge, shouting in his face, "Hey, mister, c'mon! Check out this killer view!"

It was damned hard to look tough with that happening. That's why Oscar shaved as soon as he got back home to Kansas. Life was tough enough in the flatlands for an actuarial at Marvel Insurance who knew the mortality rate for tourists at high altitude. As Dorothy, who overcame her own height-related issues, would say, there's no place like it.

I said this blog was not just for people from Worthing. We have a writer from as far afield as Northampton! 

John Sheirer lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with his wonderful wife Betsy and happy dog Libby. He has taught writing and communications for 26 years at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield, Connecticut, where he also serves as editor and faculty advisor for Freshwater Literary Journal (submissions welcome). He writes a monthly column on current events for his hometown newspaper, the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and his books include memoir, fiction, poetry, essays, political satire, and photography. Find him at JohnSheirer.com.