Stretching My Bravery Muscle

One month ago I lost my husband.

In some ways it feels like yesterday and in other ways it feels like a couple years have gone by. I am learning to “stretch my bravery muscle.” In other words, I am trying to do some of the things that Brian used to do. He was my snow driver, I am not a fan of driving in the snow. I know right? Imagine me living in the north with that kind of attitude.

But each time I drive in the snow, I feel like I am stretching my muscle a little bit further than before.

Or there is the bravery needed for the quad plow. I have now broken it twice, once it only took 2 seconds. Sigh…. You know those boys of mine have not banned me from it yet, they graciously come along and fix it and if they sigh, I do not even hear it. So I suck in my breath and climb back on.

This winter has proved to be a challenge thus far. For some reason we have received more snow in 2 weeks then maybe in the 10 years past! At my house we have 2.5 feet, it is mid-thigh height in my yard and tonight it is still coming down. We have, okay I only did one roof but many guys have shoveled my roofs off. My brother shovelled the majority – Bless him! But the one roof I did counts, I had to get the ladder haul it out and stretch to reach that snow and pull it off. Brian hated me on ladders – right from the get-go, but hey, I just stretched my bravery muscle.

Brian will not have to worry about that now, my son Gord just brought over this cool new gadget – The Snow Peeler. That thing works slick and you can remove the snow while standing on the ground! Check it out:

I came across a couple articles about female mountaineers. Now these gals are not just any mountain climbers, these were some of the founders of the Scottish Climbing Club. At the time they started their club, women were not included with men on their mountain climbs and nor were they allowed to join the Scottish Mountaineering Club – men only.

These ladies I am talking about started to climb in the year 1908……in skirts, and in some cases bare feet, definitely not hiking boots. They had no special equipment to climb with, a rope was tied around their waists for protection. That was it.

We are talking now about some serious stretching of the bravery muscle!

There were 3 ladies who started the Scottish Mountaineering Club, Jane Inglis Clarke, her daughter Mabel Jeffrey and Lucy Smith, by 1909 they had 14 members. Today it is reported to have around 120 members. The group travels around the globe making climbs in many countries of the world.

Dragojila Jarnevic a female writer in Croatia, Europe became the first woman to climb the mountain, Okic in 1843 and she did it barefoot. There is still a path named after her today.

Lucy Walker was the first woman to climb the Eiger in the Bernese Alps. She is recorded

to climb with her father and brother. Her father and brother decided to ascend the Eiger and Lucy was not about to sit around while they were out climbing so she went along in her skirt in 1864.

Lucy also founded the Ladies Alpine Club in England, after moving there from Canada as a girl with her family.

As I write about these women I am in awe of their exploits, I would not have ever joined their club, but my hat is off to these women. To me it is these kind of stories and inspiration that help me to believe that women can do far more than we give them credit for. As I pioneer around our property, I remember them and think, how brave these women were.

I think of my grandma on my moms side, Laina, she came across by boat to Canada from Finland around the age of 20. She could not speak the language and did not know anyone over here. To meet her later as her granddaughter, I would never have known the chutzpah side of her. Her bravery muscle got stretched mega time.

I would have to say from my experience as a radio sales person that the bravery muscle, like all muscles needs to have a regular stretching experience to keep it in shape and make it stretch even more. You left the office and prayed God would show you where to go and who to ask, because most days we did not know. But we went out day after day, as in a gym work out where we keep building muscle, it is the same principle, little by little it grew.

As I navigate the next chapter of my life adjusting, altering and building muscle, I feel that at the same time next year, hulk hogan will have nothing on me in terms of muscle building!

There are a couple of huge “mountains” in front of me this month, I will climb them or adjust to them or find an alternate path, but the main one is Christmas. I know it will be tough and am expecting it. As I stand at the mountain base and look up at the summit, I know I will get through, I have some ideas – nothing grandiose but Christmas will be Christmas just different. Christmas is not about me or Brian, it is about Jesus. He still came and He is still coming back and all that is so worth celebrating. Walking through the day to day of the season, well I am going to go forward and stretch a little bit of my bravery muscle.