Gliding into my Prime
Never in my sugar-inspired dreams did I think I’d paraglide in the French Alps. That really wasn’t a thing I knew existed growing up. Paragliding. I knew what mountains were…in theory.
“The mountains are always moving. Things are always changing.”
Fitting words for reflection as I started my 37th year. Leann and I explored France in May for what I’ve referred to as a “once-in-a-lifetime” trip. These poetic words were from Sean, my paragliding partner.
Never in my sugar-inspired dreams did I think I’d paraglide in the French Alps. That really wasn’t a thing I knew existed growing up. Paragliding. I knew what mountains were…in theory. In planning for our trip we looked for unique opportunities to experience a city. That often takes the shape of cuisine and walking tours. When reading about non-skiing options in the Alps, paragliding jumped out to me.
I should also share that reading about paragliding is different than seeing and experiencing paragliding. This became apparent on our first day in Chamonix when we took the lifts up to Aiguille de Midi.
The Aiguille du Midi is the highest mountain peak served by an aerial lift system. The name translates literally to "Needle of the Mid-day". The mountain lies to the south-east of Chamonix and when viewed from in front of the church it indicates that it is noon when the sun passes over its summit.
https://www.chamonix.net/english/leisure/sightseeing/aiguille-du-midi
When taking the lifts, you switch about two-thirds up the mountain. This spot is where we took off for paragliding. Know the feeling of looking down from a high-up perch and realizing how high you are? Yeah. It was like that plus 1,000 meters.
As I hope you can feel from the video, there is immense awe I have for mountains. Perhaps that’s from growing up in the midwest where I often mistake hills for mountains. From afar, mountains often don’t look that big. Then you start hiking up one or get close and you realize the enormity of these creations. I’m reminded of adages and songs about moving mountains, ain’t no mountain high enough. I transported back to earth science classes and looked up how mountains are made. I journaled about the forces in my life that create the mountain (or hill) I am. What if I thought of the competing feelings as tectonic plates? Which one wins? One of the issues I confronted on this trip was my desire to be busy versus being still. Those plates crash into each other often in my personal and professional life. I’d love to chat about what forces you find bumper-car-ing into each other in your life.
There is a serenity in slowly falling back to earth. Watching the video I noticed my jaw seemingly was permanently dropped for the glide. Sean’s words stay with me today in thinking about how, like the mountains, we are always changing and, perhaps, we slow down enough to realize that movement avec gratitude.