Personal Thanks and recognitions

Personal May 8, 2010
Friends, colleagues, family and friends of friends
This has been 1 of the most remarkable things I have ever done and seen. Without you as a supporter, I would not have experience what I have done over the past 35 days.
Climbing is one thing,( something I have been doing for almost 8 years now with little fanfare) but helping people understand what I did everyday when I climbed ( fun fast paced learning is what it is called), in a place that is the most unbelievable place on earth, is a feeling that I will never forget.
I was your lab rat and it was fun and exciting and I hope one day again, you can come along and learn even more in a another part of the world where I will be climbing. I have never done a blog. I have never even done a diary. I had always lived for the moment because this was a personal thing but this was the first for me. I opened myself up to the world on a mountain when all odds were against me, even though I had trained exceptionally hard for this for over 2 years. I was not comfortable in doing it at first due to the high success rate of failure in reaching the top but I would not trade this experience now for anything in the world as it shows me that if something is interesting and someone people know is doing it, it can be a learning experience for everyone even when the goal is not met. (I still have to tell you that I am so disappointed in the way it ended and I am sorry I was not able to give you even more)
Everest is a special place and I know each of you learned more about Mt Everest than you could have ever imagined. I know this because I got email, I got blog replies, I got phone calls and my family got more personal contact on a daily basis that ever before on any topic since I have been alive and that was 48 years ago. I heard from people on 6 of the 7 continents and a lot of them knew nothing about me climbing before much less Mt Everest. That is totally amazing!!!! I appreciated your prayers and support and it must have worked because I am coming home safely with everything attached and the mind is still good.
At this point (as I sit in this cold tent begging for some warm weather), I really am not interested in coming back to MT Everest but I also know time heals a lot of old wounds. (But it will have to be a lot of time) It still has a special place in my heart but it has taught me some very hard lessons with my physical body but also with my ego. I have my list to go back and reevaluate what happened, why? What could have been done different etc. I have quite a long list to go through but rest assured if I can conquer some of these things in a different day under different circumstances, I will make another run at this great mountain.
Again Thanks for all you have done for me. I hope that I will see some of the people that I have corresponding with in the last month before I have to climb this mountain again.