We Forgot Nancy!

We invited some friends from residency days to hang out with us in Phoenix this past weekend and just had a blast. One excursion took us to Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale. Scott and I were there on our 10th anniversary this summer and I didn't quite make it to the top. (A story for another day...) So, I was determined that I would summit Camelback on this trip and make Scott proud.

Camelback is not an easy climb for people like me who don't often climb mountains. We stopped frequently. Several times, when we would stop and rest, the same woman would also be there resting. We chatted; and discovered her name was Nancy. Every time we thought about quitting, there was Nancy, urging us on. We ended up climbing to the top with her.

We hung out at the summit for awhile and then decided to head back down and get some lunch. After about ten minutes, someone said, "We forgot Nancy!" Of course, we were really under no obligation to climb back down with Nancy, and I had looked around for her briefly at the top. We all kind of lamented briefly and kept heading down.

Several minutes later, Scott said, "Hey, there's Nancy!" She caught up with us, very out of breath and said, "I just had to catch you, I have the funniest story!" Nancy had been sitting behind a rock with her eyes closed at the top of the mountain, when a group of people wandered over. She overheard their conversation, and one of them said, "By far, the best comment we heard on Camelback was, 'hey, we forgot Nancy!'" She jumped up and said, "I'm that Nancy!!" And then felt compelled to tell the other climbers that we hadn't really forgotten her, we weren't really together. They all had a laugh and then she said she just had to catch up with us to tell us the story.

It really is funny how something like climbing a mountain can bond people together. None of us will ever forget our climb with Nancy, or how we ended up forgetting her at the top!

By the way, the climb was well worth it; these are some pictures our friend took...amazing view!