The Adventure at Night

As night fell, the adventure began. I took a handful of medication, that could knock out a horse, in hopes of getting some much-needed sleep. Drowsiness sets in and at around 10:00 p.m. I fall comfortably asleep. Unfortunately, it was short-lived as at 11:15 pm I awoke with shooting pain down my leg like it was on fire as if someone had taken a hot iron and laid it on my thigh. Due to the disease, the nerves that feed my legs have trouble sending the proper signals causing numbness and pain. We are not sure exactly why but it is most likely due to the bone lesions on my spine.

The jolt thrusts me out of bed and I rub my leg trying to relieve the pain. I walk around the room and that helps a little. Changing sleeping positions and locations, many times is required to find that hidden valley of sleep. I take up residence on the couch in a sitting position, relieving the pain enough to be comfortable.

Now wide awake waiting for the sleep train to pull into the station I start pondering upon what it’s going to require to travel the road ahead. One advantage of these late nights alone with my thoughts, is I can spend undisturbed time studying the gospel. One way I like to study is by listening to talks on the BYU Speeches website. In my search for something to study, I came across of all things, a talk on endurance. J. Ty Hopkins, an extreme mountain biker, shared his experience when he took on the "Tour Divide" a 2,700-mile mountain bike route from Canada to the border of Mexico. In his first attempt, he came to a point where he knew he was just not going to finish the race.

“Battered and beaten, I rolled out my sleeping bag and bivy sack on the cold, uneven ground and crawled in. I was done. I decided to quit. With tears in my eyes, I eventually drifted off to sleep. A few hours later I sat up in my sleeping bag and watched the rising sun start to illuminate the eastern horizon, creating an incredible backlit view of the peaks. The light also opened up the vista where I’d been sleeping. Since I had arrived at this location after dark, I was seeing for the first time that I was on the edge of a vast mountain meadow that was filled with flowers and covered with morning dew. I sat in silence and took it in.

I was in awe of the beauty that surrounded me, and I was dumbfounded that I had not noticed anything like this the previous day. I knew this couldn’t be the first beautiful sight that I had come across in almost twenty hours of riding in one of the most spectacular mountain ranges in the United States. Had I missed it all?” (“Lessons on Endurance” November 12, 2024)

His story caused me to reflect on my situation and how sometimes I get so focused on the pain, worrying about treatment, and how all of this is going to affect Sherrie and the family that I forget to consider how blessed I am. I have a wife who is the love of my life whom I want to spend every waking minute with. I also have amazing children and grandchildren who so incredible love for me. I also need to be grateful for the little things like running water and electricity. His experience helped me commit to being more grateful, less grumpy even if I am tired and in pain, and show more love. We may face many trials but we can not just gut it out to the end but enjoy the journey regardless of the challenges.