First Day by Anna Dynkin
My first day of climbing was, well, interesting. It was such a long time ago…I was only seven years old at the time. I walked into the Exxel Gymnastics and Climbing gym, gripping my mother's hand tightly. I was beyond nervous. As I walked into the gym, I saw people doing splits and flips and swinging off parallel bars all around me. It made me even more anxious. I saw the climbing wall looming in the distance and it looked colossal. I swallowed and tugged on my mom's hand, but she ignored me. My stomach did a little flip and before I knew it I was crying. "Anya, what's wrong?" my mother asked. I sniffed. "I don't wanna go…" I whined "Can I go home? Please?" "Come on" she said, and led me quickly too the climbing wall before I could say anything else. All of a sudden, a man appeared in front of us. He was obviously the climbing instructor. I gasped and ducked behind my mother's back. He seemed a little perplexed at my strange behavior, but introduced himself as Alexey. My mother told him that I was Anna, I was new, and I was a little scared. They talked for a while. Finally, I summoned up the courage to look at Alexey. I peeked out slowly from behind my mother's back. Alexey smiled down at me kindly. "He doesn't seem so bad…" I thought, smiling back at him shyly. "In fact, he seems pretty nice…" My mother, seeing that I had finally emerged, gave me a little push forward and said "Go climb!" Alexey smiled again and started walking towards the climbing wall. I gave my mother a last pleading look but she smiled encouragingly and pointed to where Alexey was going. I sighed and followed him thinking "Well, it's only an hour…"
The lesson turned out to be great. Alexey gave me little tiny shoes to put on and showed me how to climb a wall. I had more fun than I would have ever expected! By the end of the class, I had completely forgotten what had happened at the beginning. I was actually disappointed when it was time to go. "See, it wasn't so bad, was it?" Alexey asked. I laughed. The minute I left, I couldn't wait until the next practice. It finally came, and I met new people and learned how to tie my knot. Eventually, I started climbing harder routes, like Mnt. Everest. I loved climbing.
Who would have thought that the little girl who came to her first practice crying and begging her mother to not go would still be climbing five years later?
