Judythe Patberg

Rushing to Sunset Judythe Patberg

In the preface to Rushing to Sunset, the author says, "This isn't a book about aging, but it could be. I'm anxious about the aging thing . . . My fear is feeling and acting old . . ." She goes on to describe two extreme physical and mental challenges she undertook at different times in her life-one when she was young and the other when she was old but felt young. She was twenty-six years old when she agreed to accompany a medical student on a thirty-day, three-hundred-fifty-mile trek to the Base Camp at Mt. Everest, with no training or hiking experience. Forty-one years later, at age sixty-seven, she hiked from the South Rim to the North Rim and back to the South Rim in Grand Canyon. At the time of the Himalayan invitation, the author was in Kathmandu, not expecting anything to happen. But when an opportunity to get off the beaten path presented itself, she eagerly accepted. The Grand Canyon experience happened because she was ready for the chance to prove that she wasn't too old for an adrenalin-driven adventure, that her body could still work for her. While the settings were different, the result was the same: the author accomplished something that made her feel incredibly strong and good. She felt wonder and amazement at the ability of her body to endure extreme challenges at both a young and an old age. In that respect, the book could be about aging after all.