Three ways of climbing.

1.
You can go fast and mostly hands-free, running ahead from the group. On the more level services you will nearly fly, lean legs strong and confident, arms to your sides like you've forgotten about them. Sometimes you fall, and when you do, you take it as a personal affront. You trusted the ground and it betrayed you. Your knee is bloody. Stinkin' owie! You can't defeat me! you'll shout. Then you pick yourself up and you continue. When it's time to ascend, your feet will find purchase easily and you will pull yourself up, arms working in perfect tandem with your legs. The strength in those small arms will astound anyone watching. Up, up, up, you'll go. You'll disappear from sight. Where are you? you'll hear us call. And for a small second you won't answer, reveling in the distance between you and those voices. Right here, you'll finally answer, and wait for the footfall to tell you that we're getting closer. And then you're gone again.

2.
You can go slow, head down as you watch where your feet land. You will try to stick close to someone. On the more level surfaces, you'll run ahead in bursts of energy, your legs and arms flailing in an uncoordinated fashion but propelling you forward nonetheless. Your swiftness will astound us when you do this. Sometimes you fall, and when you do, you take it as a personal affront. Sometimes you will scream and cry, fat tears swelling from your eyes as you race to us for comfort. Sometimes you'll shake it off. You'll say to us in a wobbly voice, eyes bright and looking for approval, I didn't even cry! I just got right back up. When you do that, we'll high-five you. And when it's time to ascend you will consider every place your feet could go and sometimes you will pick the wrong place. You'll stand there, aware that your other foot has nowhere to go. You'll reconfigure. You'll try to pull yourself up, but sometimes you'll need help. I love climbing, you'll say to us. I'm glad, we'll say back, and we are: You are so determined and focused to do this thing that isn't so easy for you.

3.
You can walk behind everybody, head down, thinking of all the things you still have to do before the day is through. Your feet will hurt, so you will pause, then take wincing steps up and down the rocks. You can be hesitant in a climb, unsure, a little mad that you are doing this at all. When it's time to ascend, you can choose not to go the places everyone else is going because you've decided climbing is not for you. You don't like the feeling of heaving your weight up level after level. You can opt out of exploring that crevice, assuming you won't fit, dragging your sense of adventure limply behind you. You can give up before you even start. You can wilt in the heat. You can feel relieved that you are finally heading back to the car. You might as well not go at all.