I've got a glorious feeling...

Scarab has taken it upon herself to be my Jacob's Ladder coach. I'm not sure, even after all these years, if she knows what it takes to motivate me.

I was stalling on doing yet another ascent. "Come on, haze!" she cried. "Don't tell me you're going to wuss out?!"

What Scarab fails to understand is that I'm more than happy to wuss out. I'm a fearless kind of person and that extends all the way to having no fear of failure. I embrace it if it's a means to avoiding pain.

----------------------

While I waited at the top of the steps for Scarab to finish her Super Mario routine, I watched other climbers stagger up the last few stairs. I was thinking how good it would be if one of them got to the top and lit up a cigarette.

"Now, now, hazelblackberry," I told myself. "It's been a beautiful day and that would just be some kind of stupid cliche. You can't expect to have everything go your way."

I know you'll never believe it, but the next thing I knew there was a girl standing right in front of me, puffing from exertion and puffing on a smoke.

When I told Scarab she said, "See?! Everything is going your way!"