Believe it or not, this rope is special to me.  This is the rope that was first used to tie me up by that woman I met... oh wait... that's a different rope.  Wrong story.

This rope is probably about 18 years old, but I've always managed to have it around all these years.  When I was in Boy Scouts in California, my brother-in-law Shannon (who at the time was just dating my sister Sarah) taught us how to repel.  We all made our own harnesses out of rope, and this is the rope that I used to make mine.

The story of that day repelling at Gibraltar is probably still one of Shannon's favorites, and he loves telling it all these years later.  There I stood at the top of the rock, hooked onto the decent rope using that beaner you see there.  I no longer remember exactly how it happened, but just as I was starting out, I slipped and found myself hanging upside down at the top just a few feet down.

I'll admit that before any of this happened, I was already somewhat scared of heights, but had convinced myself I could do this.  Now I was hanging upside down 100 feet in the air, and my life was flashing before my eyes.  Of course, given the fact that I was only about 10 or 11, it didn't take that long.

After a minute, Shannon was able to reach down, grab my ankle and drag me back up to the top.  To say that I was scared to death is an understatement of grand proportions.  And yet, there I stood, still hooked to the rope at the top.  And after some calming, and encouraging words, I found myself going down the side of Gibraltar the right way.  And when I got to the bottom, I unhooked and ran back up the path to the top so I could do it all again with a smile on my face.  I probably went up and down that rock a dozen times that day.

There are many times in my life when I have been scared... and yet I have always seemed to get past it and do what I had to do.  This rope is a reminder of the first time I did just that.  I've grown a lot since that day.  This rope is now too short to use as a harness to carry me any more.  In fact, it's probably not useful for anything other than hanging on a wall any more.  But as a reminder, it still carries me every day.