One of the great things about stand-up comedy being my job for the last 30 years is the down time. It’s also a curse. As a comic you can’t help but thing about comedy constantly which begs the argument that comedians are all on the spectrum on one level or another but if you really love what you do and that it’s all you think of I suppose to someone doing something they don’t enjoy it might look we all have some sort of mental issues. Fair enough, I can’t argue with that but ultimately I couldn’t care less. I mostly work at night which leaves my days free for other pursuits. Luckily one of things I enjoy most is climbing, more specifically ice and alpine climbing. The feeling of moving over frozen terrain surrounded by breath taking scenery is something I’ve been lucky enough to be actively involved with for more than 42 years. And maybe if I’d spent less time climbing and more time working on my career maybe I’d be further along in this business but that’s something I’ve never considered. I grew up in North Idaho and the accesses to amazing places to climb was never in short supply. Then something happened. Almost 20 years ago I relocated to London England for my career and for love. Two things I never gave much thought to before. Obviously London does not lend itself to climbing adventures unless you count climbing indoors and using public transport to get there as an adventure. None the less I always thought that one day I’d return to the mountains I grew up with my wife for more chances to do what keeps me sane when I’m not in front of a room full of strangers trying to make them laugh. Then something happened I could never have planned for; I became a father. After not being able to father a child naturally as my wife and I guess in some cases would have preferred we adopted a little boy in London. It’s a path I would’ve never guessed I’d be taking but that’s the thing about I life I’m told time and time again, you can’t plan for it (you can shut up about that now). I’m still doing stand-up comedy as my full time job but there’s still the down time. I still want to get into the outdoors just as much as before but now I want to take my son with me. Arguably I probably wouldn’t be taking him to do some of the things I might be doing were I on my own or with climbing partners but the desire to get him outdoors so he can have a taste of some of the things I enjoy is genuine. The frustration is I’m still in Great Britain and though they have their fair share of outdoor space it pales in comparison to what I grew up with. Some suggest I take him to the Alps but the expense and distance makes it a bit prohibitive for me. Now that he’s getting older I some how need to get him exposed to those wide open spaces I long for. Will this further my career? Of course not but now that he’s in m life I believe now more than ever that I work to live not live for work. My ultimate dream? A week long backpack trip, another week running white water and then he and I build a house on some land I have. In the meantime it’s him and I riding bikes in Richmond Park in London and building make believe shelters from the sticks and logs we find in the shade of the trees planted for Henry VIII to keep him cool and in the shade while contemplating his next wife. Can I afford any of this? Nope. I wonder if I used GoFundMe.com to get all that. Would that be cheating?