Strawberry

I remember an old zen story about an enlightened man who was being chased off a cliff by a tiger. He could either get eaten by the tiger or fall to his death. As he is falling, his life stops for a moment and he sees a strawberry. He grabs the strawberry and eats it, savoring every sweet bite. 

This is the extreme of living in the moment.

Today Claire-Adele and I went zip lining in Costa Rica. It was billed as a cloud canopy tour, but instead it was an adrenaline junkie fix, with a giant swing, zip lines and repelling down a 40 meter platform. After getting zipped down the platform, we had to climb back up. Part of the 40 m climb was in a hollow tree trunk. The last twenty meters was up a rickety and uneven ladder. The tree trunk was cozy or claustrophobic, which I preferred. The open air ladder was freaky. We were clipped into a guide rope which would slow down the fall but probably not stop it. Anyway, I met every step up the ladder with my mini-mantra “I can do this.” I took one step at a time and never looked down. It was amazing what I could do when I broke it into small bits.

I am writing this from the warmth of my room in the B&B, so you know I survived. The riskiest part of the trip was the lightening. We had to stop the ziplining two zips from the end because they didn’t want anyone to get electrocuted while hanging from a metal wire in a tree canopy.

Claire-Adele had a blast and looks good in all of the pictures which she will post on Instagram and her dating profiles. “Guys will know I’m up for adventure,” she said. Or maybe it was down with adventure, as if adventure has a direction.

I did not look nearly as charming as Claire-Adele did in my pictures. I couldn’t fix a joyful expression as I was coming down. I looked terrified or bewildered or amped up on drugs or whatever. I did not look good.

I am not a big fan of the adrenaline junkie vacation where a death waiver needs to be signed, but I relented. As I jumped off the platform for each of the half dozen times, I kept thinking of the zen strawberry. Thought the ride on the zip line lasts only a few seconds, this is the closest thing I’ll ever get to feel like I’m flying. When fear was gripping me, I thought I might as well enjoy the ride.

In the pictures, on the other hand, I looked more like I was getting chased by a tiger instead of enjoying a strawberry.