Mike Dishman’s Blog

I was looking over the edge of the mountain I had climbed to the top of over twenty years ago. I was wondering what the valley below was like after all these years. I decided to stretch even further over a ridge trying to get a better look when I lost my grip and started falling. I had been at the ridge for so long that I thought going down a little wouldn’t be such a big deal Then I started to realize I could no longer stop where I had hoped to. Slowly but surely it became apparent to me I was not going to stop sliding and tumbling until I hit the very bottom.

All that effort and all those years would have been undone. And so it was. I was at the bottom. I thought since I was there anyway, why not just hang there for a while. I wanted to experience just what it was that I was so intrigued about that caused me to take this tumble.

The devil and I were sitting at the bar lying to each other for the longest time. He was pretty convincing that I should stay in the valley even though all those I cared about were waiting for me back on the ridge. He would say, “you know it’s a long hard hike back up there. It’s easier to just hang out here; I understand your pain and struggle more than anyone else”.

I could hear my wife Geri calling me but the sound of her voice was very soft. She was
looking for me and I knew I should go home, but it was going to be a tough hike and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back just yet.

Then I started hearing my entire family calling to me. I still was not sure. Then Geri saw me; saw where I was and who I was with. Her call to me this time was racked with pain. It was the same pain she had expressed over twenty years ago. The pain in her voice woke me as if I had been in a trance or a spell. Then she came down to get me. Some will understand, most will not.

I am not in the valley any more. She and I are on a journey back to the ridge. It will be a long hike with many struggles but if I pace myself and hold her hand we will make it back to where I once came from.