Change of summits

Magnet #450 - Mount Everest, Nepal

Remember I went on that rant about how my sister was planning on visiting Base Camp? Of Mount Everest? Without telling our parents before she was planning to face possible death?

Turns out that even Mother Nature was against her, as all the flights (that were going to take her to where she'd be about a 14-day hike away from base camp), were grounded. So, (she says), she booked a fly-by of the mountain.

If you've read any number of posts here on joy magnetism - you know that's how we often roll - flying right by it Of course, I've never done a literal fly-by, so that's kinda cool.

I haven't a clue where she picked this magnet up, but yay for a Mount Everest magnet!

Today, she graduates from grad school, getting her Masters in Saving the World. Or, rather, her MA in Sustainable International Development, which means she'll be explaining to regular folk what that means for a good part of her life.

Well, you may not have gotten to climb the actual mountain, kid, but congrats on reaching several summits this year: Confirmation (oh, yes, there's a magnet for that one), grad school graduation (now I have to figure out when to use your alma mater's magnet), and then later on this year, a wedding (oddly, there's already a magnet for that one).

A daughter all of her life*

Magnet #407 - Cockney Rhyming Slang for Mum and Dad

Me friend bought me this supercool magnet down Londontown, and we had a good giggle over Cockney slang, where saying "I think I'm going a bit Mum and Dad" really means, "I'm going a bit mad."

But, I'm going to be a bit literal in my usage of this magnet for today, because frankly, I can't Adam and Eve what I just heard not an hour ago, and I know me Mum and Dad would be mad as well. Mad, mad.

There we were - the sister in DC, the Save the World sister in Nepal and her fiance - all Skyping away, havin' a giraffe or two, just larkin' about. We spoke for a good long while, because STWsister is leaving at six on Sunday morning to go to South Base Camp. Of Mount Everest.

Yes. That Mount Everest.

Apparently, a bit of dosh will get you and your sherpa up there, and she has to fly in to the closest airport, and then will do 14 days of walking - just to get to Base Camp. She's not going farther up, but it's something she's always wanted to do - go to Everest.

And, that's something I understand. Everyone has things they want to see, do, experience before they die. Of course. And, it's not like thousands of people don't do this exact trek every year. Plus, she's in the neighborhood, so yeah, I totally get it.

But how you gonna go visit the highest mountain in the world and not call your parents before you leave? How you gonna go trekking for days and days through some of the toughest climes (and probably climbs) in the world, and send only an email to your parents, leaving your two sisters holding the bag? How? In what world is that ok?

Two words: It's not.

She better bring back a damn magnet, that's all I'm sayin'.

Anyway. To bring this back to me, because after all it's not called joy magnetism for nothing...

How come I'm the only one who got the 50-mile radius rule handed down to them in college?

Don't know it?

After my parents found out that I drove from Chapel Hill to Western Carolina University for my best friend's 21st birthday party, they laid down the law:

It's ok if you go places, that's fine. But, please, if you go outside the 50-mile radius, just call us and let us know. That way, we know where to pick up the body.

So tonight, I mentioned that parental law to both my sisters (one's five years younger, the other is eight years younger), and shine a damn light, neither one of them have ever heard that rule!!!! Bah.

This weekend, someone's gonna be going a bit Mum and Dad, but me, I'm just thinking about how the life of the oldest of three daughters is so vastly different than the lives of those that come after. I mean, it's close to two decades later, and I'm still quoting the parental rules...but that's what I've heard the Irish say: *A son is a son till he takes him a wife, a daughter is a daughter all of her life.