The First Note- 7/17/2018

Dear Friends,

A couple things. This is, in fact, me. My CHS email was hacked. Disregard things that don’t sound like me. I'm all good. (No Itunes gift cards or other funds needed!)

The airplane leaves for Kilimanjaro, Tanzania today, Wed July 18. After some acclimation, we begin the hike to summit on 7/28 at 19,2341 feet. Mt Kili is the tallest single mountain and volcano in the world. Many people travel to its peak and I hope to join them, though much may not be up to me. Many thanks to Kristina Cagno for training me and the 20+ folks who joined me on portions of my 23 mile, 9 hour prep hike this past Saturday. Beyond the physical training, the gathering of equipment and keeping the weight under 27 lbs is a bit of challenge, especially for this XLT guy.

Still, many things happen that are not in our control. How anyone’s body manages altitude is quite random. Marathoners might not be able to summit while the less fit can do just fine. I won’t know until the height comes. Preparing mentally to not summit is as important as making it. Like the email hack, many things are just not be under our control. Bad stuff happens. Preparing to both achieve and its alternative is an important discipline.

The whole idea of the hike itself is random, not a path I would have chosen or desired for myself. Truth be told, I’m going to accompany a childhood and lifelong friend. I want to see him make his bucket list item. My life goals have been more mundane, like seeing the northern lights, or skiing the Southern Hemisphere in July. Maybe a tattoo (just kidding). Perhaps one message is you never know what happens when you attend to other people, where you’d go or what you’d do otherwise. Caring for other people is also a risky thing, but it's the holy price of friendship. It isn’t a blessing if it costs me nothing.
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So, I leave you for a couple weeks of weird and challenging adventures. Keep our little party in your prayers, as you are all surely in mine.

Faithfully,

Philip+