Well, Nicks birthday has come and gone. He’s 35 now. He says he’s at the half way point now, but I recon he’s more than half way done. I can be so mean, huh!
Since Fener doesn’t like to make a big deal about his birthday I decided to finally honor his wishes and keep it low key for him. He wanted so badly to jump but the weather wouldn’t cooperate, so we raced go karts instead. Only this time I didn’t let him win!
We also enjoyed dinner at one of his favorites: Red Lobster! I couldn’t believe he didn’t save room for dessert. I mean, he turned down the free dessert! Crazy!
He also tried his foot at an old hobby for the first time at Threshold climbing gym.
Scaling a wall was not easy for him. He didn’t get too high, but he gave every ounce of effort. One issue he faced was lack of leg strength. This means he was hanging on his arms and shoulders too much which exhausted him even quicker than expected. He also can’t flex or rotate his ankles to get good placement on the climbing wall holds and pegs. But even so, he somehow crammed those rigid plastic feet of his into some tight climbing shoes and went for it.
My favorite part was observing the reaction of the other climbers. They watched intently as Nick struggled and slipped his way up. I could feel their respect.
The manager of Threshold, Doug, personally assisted us with a refresher and helped to get us on the wall. He does a lot of work with adaptive programs that help amputees and other disabled people rock climb, and gave us some killer local resources we hadn’t heard of before. And to top it off, Nick got an unexpected email from him a few days later offering to take us outdoor climbing in Joshua Tree this spring. Thanks Doug!
Nick Fener 
Happy Birthday, Nick!!!!