A Middle Man’s Tale (Part I – Introduction)

I want to share a story from my life with you.  It must be written because it must be remembered.  It took place in July of 2010, when my son, Grant, said he wanted to hike up Half Dome in Yosemite National Park for his 21^st birthday.  Every good story has characters, a setting, a conflict, and a conclusion.  This good story is no different.

The main characters in this story are: my son, Grant, a 21 year old college student, full of energy and excitement for the challenge ahead; me, a 51 year old attorney/mediator in moderately good shape who is a little anxious about the most physically demanding hike he had ever undertaken; and “Father Time,” an 81 year old Asian/American who was going to hike Half Dome with his grandchildren because it was on his bucket list.  Notice the 30 year spread in each of our ages.  This is important, as each of us represented our respective generations:  a member of the Greatest Generation, a Baby-Boomer, and a member of Generation Y, a/k/a the Millennials.  Notice that I am in the middle.  Being a middle-aged mediator, in am used to being a middle man.

The setting is located in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains in Yosemite National Park in the state of California.  The centerpiece of this breathtakingly beautiful park is Half Dome.  In 1865, The California Geological Survey Report stated, “It is a crest of granite… perfectly inaccessible, being probably the only one of the prominent points about the Yosemite which never has been, and never will be, trodden my human foot.”   It is the iconic symbol of Yosemite National Park.  It is the inspiration for The North Face Logo.  It is imprinted on the back of the California version of the quarter.  And it is imprinted in my memory as an unforgettable life experience, which will always hold a very special place in my heart.

Donald Miller wrote in his book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life, “A character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it is the basic structure of a good story.”  The conflict in this story would be a father accompanying his son on a long, hard journey beyond the father’s fitness level.  I am pretty certain that the job titles of attorney and mediator are found in the category of sedentary level work in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles.  Yes, I still played tennis some and had helped coach the local high school tennis team.  I had been going on hikes every few weeks, but most of them were no more than five miles round trip.  And I had trained a little, if you can call going up and down Lynch Mountain near home while wearing leg weights a few times as training.  But you know God didn’t place many high mountains in a community called “Flatwoods.” My aspirations of going to the high school football stadium and run the bleachers had never gotten past the “probably a good idea” stage.  I think I just never got that on my calendar, and before I knew it, the time had come for us to leave for California.

I knew Half Dome would be a hard hike.  It was longer than any hike we had ever done (over twice as long).  The round trip from Curry Village, where we were staying, to the top of Half Dome and back would be approximately 17 ½ miles.  It had an elevation gain of approximately 4800 feet ( yes, almost one mile high) was about 50% more than we had ever done.  If the distance and elevation gain were not enough, there was also the daunting task of taking on the infamous Half Dome cables – found on the final 400 feet of the ascent at more than a 50 degree angle.  This, would, no doubt, stretch me, challenge me, and take me outside my comfort zone – something that God uses Grant to do to me regularly.

We know there was a conclusion to the story, because I am now reflecting on it and writing about it two years later.  So, there you have it – all the ingredients to a good story.  (To be continued)