A few weeks ago we were up visiting my mom in Andover. She is the head librarian of the Oliver Wendall Holmes Library at Phillips Academy. As such, it was her right to invite us to the all-campus end-of-classes picnic. On hand were a variety of enticing inflatables, including…The Ultimate Module Challenge.
The idea is that two people start at the same moment and plunge themselves into two identical halves of the Ultimate Module Challenging, matching strength, speed, stamina, and will in a contest to see who can emerge first on the other end.
Alden, who thinks highly of her strength, speed, and stamina, is also not lacking in will. She contemplated the Challenge, and was intrigued.
I was certain that there were rules, limits, requirements for height, weight, or age, but such was Alden’s determination to try that we stood in line with the jubilant high schoolers. When we got to the front, I sheepishly asked the attendant if Alden might give it a go. To my surprise, we met no resistance. The Challenge was on.
Alden lined up against a young man who must have been eight or so. At the appointed moment, she plunged into the hole, with me trailing, trying to keep up.
She climbed over a low wall.
And through a narrow passage.
Then over another wall.
Eventually she got to the big climbing wall at the end, probably 12 feet high.
About halfway up, she turned to me as if to say, “Papa, could you help me just a little?”
I was happy to oblige.
Once we made it to the top, we got the chance to slide back down. There was no time for taking pictures. We reached the finish line a good deal after our competitor. But Alden didn’t notice.
We ran the Challenge four more times that day.
The kid has guts. I’m guessing she got them from her mother.
