VERTIGO – Part 8 – The Mountaineers (cont)

It showed the strength of humans and the way they can support each other and the amount of care that was there from one person to another, to risk their own lives and their own expeditions to go and assist other people and help them through those dreadful times. And I think that was a real indication of the strength of character and the type of characters that are involved in mountaineering and what they'll do for each other.
-- Guy Cotter, (Guide and Base Camp Support)

While yet on another expedition to Half Price Books, I headed straight to the mountaineering section and read the back flap of the book in front of me, Anna Purna, A Women’s Place by Arlene Blum. Oh, my God!  She’s from Berkeley!  This was the story of an all-women expedition to the top of Anna Purna; the first American expedition to reach the summit.  I was engrossed in hours of absorbed delight, getting to know the characters, looking at their pictures over and over, trekking with them, rooting for them, and mourning with them when two of them died in their attempt on the summit. 

One woman in particular piqued my interest because she was so pretty and she was from Wyoming.  Annie Whitehouse was an adventurous, 21 year old nursing student at the University of Wyoming, described by Arlene as a “sturdy young woman with determination, endurance, a tolerant disposition and a fine sense of humor.”

I read the name again.  I looked at the year – 1978.  That was indeed during the time I was there and my best friend, Karen Cloud, was there, too, going through nursing school.  I bet she knew her!  I called Karen, so excited I could hardly speak.  Yes, of course she knew Annie!  She had studied with Annie, taken the 5:00 am bus to nursing training sessions twice a week with Annie and gone to parties with Annie.  She had met Annie’s Sherpa husband when he moved to Laramie.  She even had pictures of Annie at her house! 

Karen was inspired to find Annie and after much research on Facebook and other social networks, she discovered that Annie and her friend, Jane were nurses working in a public health clinic a couple miles from Karen’s home!  They excitedly made a plan to get together and spent a delightful evening drinking wine and catching up on their lives and sharing how nursing school had shaped their vocations and service in the world.  Annie had been a nurse in Doctors Without Borders and served in many far reaching corners of the world.  Jane had spent many years serving in public health and Karen was a leader in her field of obstetrics and gynecology.  They found each other and renewed their rich friendship.

This ongoing experience with vertigo had not only enlarged my own consciousness, but had also created something larger than myself, something good, something worthwhile, something loving and connecting in this world.  Three strong women, reunited after 30 plus years, shared the travails and joys of a lifetime with each other and committed to creating a future circle of friendship and support.