#296 Climb to the Top of A Lighthouse

Cape May Point Lighthouse. 

It was August 27, 2010. My parents had taken their camper down to the Beachcomber Campground in Cape May for the week. They were set to come home that weekend and invited us down for a visit. My father had even given us the blessing to use his new Chevy Tahoe for the ride down. How sweet was that?

Late that Friday night, my sister, my kids and I piled into my dad's Tahoe and headed towards the Jersey Shore. Turns out, the Tahoe had lots of neat gadgets and features as we would soon find out. You see, my sister and I can sometimes be the female equivalents of Harry and Lloyd from the movie Dumb and Dumber. No, we are not dumb, not at all. It's just that sometimes common sense eludes us and we F things up.

What happened during the ride to the shore was not at all a shocking to anyone, especially my father. For instance, someone managed to jam the sun roof open (Me) while unwittingly activating the heated seats (Me). We didn't even notice the seats were that hot until about 30 minutes into the ride. Of course, I didn't know how I activated that feature so, I also had no idea how to shut it off. Nothing like driving 4 hours in 80 degree weather while sitting on heated seats. My ass already felt sunburned and we hadn't even made it to Jersey yet.

The 70 mph air blowing through the jammed open sun roof while driving on the turnpike gave us some relief from the neck up but it was not enough. Our butts were getting really hot. They were sticking to the heated leather seats. So, we started playing around with the air conditioner. We may have accidentally turned the air conditioner to the highest setting but were unable to figure out how to turn it back down, leaving my kids to freeze in the backseat (Alicia). So now we were driving with the sun roof open, the air conditioner on full blast and the heated seat function fully activated.

My sister and I were the poster children for global warming and the reason why there is a go green movement wrapped into one.

One of the stunning Victorians in Cape May.

To add salt to all the wounds we were inflicting upon ourselves, we also took the wrong exit in Philly (Alicia). Instead of taking the Walt Whitman Bridge to get into New Jersey, we were now taking the Ben Franklin Bridge into Camden NJ at 1:00 AM in the freakin'  morning. I never prayed so hard in my life to not have the car break down.

Thankfully we did not have to go directly into inner city Camden, but the thought of being anywhere in the vicinity of Camden, especially with my two children, day or night, was enough to unnerve me quite a bit. My sister and I breathed a sigh of relief once we were safely on the Atlantic City Expressway. We were even more happy to get onto the Garden State Parkway. It was a straight shot to all shore points from there.

We arrived safely at the campground around 3:00 AM. Sheepishly, we told our dad about how bad we effed up the Tahoe. All he could do was shake his head and laugh. We are his daughters that is for sure. No question about that. My father fixed the sunroof and gave us a quick tutorial on how to turn down the air conditioning and turn off the heated seats. I just stood there exasperated by how ditzy I could be.

After getting some sleep, we woke up the next day and drove around Cape May. We came across the lighthouse while visiting Cape May Point State Park. It is still an active lighthouse used by the Coast Guard to aid in navigation but it is also open to the public during the day. For as many times as we had all been to Cape May, we had never once climbed to the top of the lighthouse.

Cape May Lighthouse from the water. 

My son suggested we do it. My sister, my son and I were all game to give it a go. My daughter passed on the opportunity. She is afraid of heights. I asked my daughter if she minded that we visited the lighthouse. She said she had no problem relaxing on a bench on the lighthouse grounds while we climbed to the top. There were seagulls and many other birds hanging around since this particular area of Cape May was a popular spot for bird migration.

My daughter enjoyed nature watching so she would be able to occupy herself while we climbed the lighthouse. She found a nice spot on a bench while the rest of us walked into the base of the 151 year old lighthouse. (At the time I am writing this, it is now 153 years old.) It was $7.00 to climb all 199 stairs to the top of the 157 foot structure.

We paid our money and prepared for our ascent. Just as I had imagined, the inside was very narrow. Looking upwards created an optical illusion. The metal spiral staircase winded elegantly all the way to the top of the cylinder shaped building. It was dizzying but also very cool. The walls of brick and mortar were in pristine condition. You could immediately tell this lighthouse was well maintained. I also noticed that there wasn't much room for passing anyone else on the stairs.

The stairwell of the Cape May Lighthouse. 

At the time we were doing this, I considered myself to be in okay physical shape. Boy was I wrong. We began our climb. My sandals were not agreeing with the metal stair case. They were bothering my feet. When we hit the first landing, there was an elderly lady resting by the window. We smiled and nodded at her then began climbing again. In the back of my mind I had hoped she would be alright to climb the entire staircase.

My son was counting the stairs as we climbed. By the second landing I was already finding myself winded. I realize I am a smoker but this was very disconcerting to me because I do not believe it is the smoking alone that was hindering me. I was just that out of shape.

By the third landing, I had to stop and rest. My legs were beginning to feel like jello and I was starting to gasp for air. This was not nearly as enjoyable as I had hoped it would be. However, the view from the top kept me inspired enough to keep going.

By the fourth landing I had become very slow and needed to stop again. I told my son to go ahead without me. I would meet him at the top. He was beginning to look a little concerned for me which made me sad for him and angry with myself. My sister was tired as well but not nearly as winded as I was. She waited for me to catch my breath.

Slowly, I finished the climb to the top. My son was waiting for me, still looking concerned. I told him to give me a moment to regroup and I would be just fine. Unfortunately, it took more than a few moments which began to alarm me. My legs were complete jelly and my upper thigh muscles were starting to burn. I was gasping for air. My head was beginning to ache from all the gasping. I refused to allow my condition to ruin this moment. I told myself to suck it up, and mustered enough strength to do just that.

We walked to the banister to take in the view below us. It was a beautiful vista of the beach and ocean. We glimpsed the Cape May Lewes Ferry in the distance shuttling passengers from New Jersey to Delaware. We saw the old concrete WWII bunker, now abandoned, sitting on the beach ahead of us. During the war it had contained heavy artillery and was manned by naval gunnery crews. Near the end of WWII, a German U-Boat commander had actually surrendered his submarine off the coast of Cape May.

The Concrete WWII bunker from the beach.

The bunker, beach, marshes and parking lot from the top of the lighthouse. 

The pretty beach houses of Cape May and the Cape May-Lewes Ferry in the background. 

The marshes popular for fall bird migration. 

Heather is sitting down there somewhere under the trees.

The wind was gusting wildly. My hair was whipping around like crazy. We were towering 165 feet above sea level. It was definitely worth the effort it took for me to climb the stairs. We strolled around the platform, taking in the fresh air and beach town vistas.We checked out the giant glass light that torched into the night sky to direct ships to shore. I would have loved to see the sunset from the top of the lighthouse but it was not open that late.

Eventually it was time for the descent down the 199 stairs. My breathing was back to normal but my legs had this weird sensation like they were unsure whether to keep burning or keep wobbling. Our descent down was a little scarier for me because my jello legs keep giving out. Tumbling down a metal spiral staircase would definitely not be a fun experience I thought. In fact, it would probably be very painful. Taking other people out with me along the way would be even less fun.

My sandals were not helping the situation by constantly slipping out of my feet. I did not think this though at all I scolded myself. I took it slow the whole way down, allowing room for people who were climbing the stairs to pass me. Once we reached the bottom I felt like my legs were about to completely give out.

Cape May Lighthouse at dusk. 

I walked outside and joined my daughter on the bench. My right leg was now shaking uncontrollably. It was in that moment where some clarity came to me. The view itself was worth all the pain I would feel tomorrow. However, I had just turned 37. Why did I feel 80? There were people 20 and 30 years older than me on those stairs and they were not struggling. There was no reason I should have been struggling as much as I was.

I was taught an important lesson walking into the lighthouse that day. I was not nearly as healthy as I believed I was. I needed to make an effort to get myself back into shape. I wanted to do so many things even more challenging than climbing to the top of a lighthouse. There was no way I would be able to do many of those things if I did not take my health seriously.

Even slow progress was better than none and I am all about baby steps yet I refused to change. I could no longer afford to be stubborn. Little did I know the Cape May Lighthouse experience was just the catalyst, it was just the beginning. I was meant to experience exactly what I was feeling. Fate was intervening.

Run For You Life Zombie 5K. I finished it!

If someone would have walked over to that bench at the very moment on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 and told me almost two years from this exact date that I would find myself not only running in the 8th most challenging 5K obstacle course in the world but finishing it, I would have told them they were completely insane.

On Saturday September 1st, 2012 I did just that. It is amazing what one can accomplish when one believes in oneself. The human spirit is such a powerful force. Yet, for some of us, self doubt, insecurity, fear of taking chances, fear of failure and being lazy are given so much more priority.

We are the only ones that have the power to change our body, mind and spirit. We are the only ones that have the power to decide how we are going to live our lives. We are the only ones that have the power to change the way we think. No one else has that right. Do not give them that power. Take it for yourself.

I have decided to distribute my power to being positive and working towards positive fulfilling goals in my life. I want to flourish not flounder. Trust me, It's not always easy, I fall down pretty hard sometimes but I am also willing to fight for my life and as long as I am willing to do that, no one is going to stop me. That power belongs to me and me alone.

Veni Vidi Vici!

Chrissy