Not That I'm bragging. But I climbed a crane.

New York Contruction men sitting on a crossbeam to eat lunch.

Taken in 1932 by Charles C. Ebbets

(I don't think these guys would be very impressed with my claim to fame. But I'm going to tell it anyways.)

So I’ve heard that the brain’s reasoning and decision making skills do not fully develop until the age of 21 or so.
I think I can support this theory.

I climbed a crane.

There’s a large crane that can be seen just right off of University Avenue and 200 North in Provo. No, I didn’t climb THIS crane. But seeing this one every time I walk in and out of work reminds me… ‘Hannah, your IQ has come a long way. ‘

But this crane does happen to look a lot like the crane that was on Utah State campus while building the new library in January 2004. And THAT is the one I climbed. I was nineteen. Two years short of being able to make the decision, “ I should not climb any cranes.” My parents forgot to instill that rule in me I guess. I'll blame them for such brainless behavior. Add it to the list of many Hannah misconceptions starting with:
Hooters is not a football team.

How do you get from being safe on the ground to the point of being hundreds of feet in the air with no ropes or nets to catch your fall? Let’s analyze my nineteen year old self…
What was important to me then?

1. Having my hair done (my roommates will attest to this)
2. Collecting all the music that I loved.
3. Trying to pull off smart in a scientific way (I was a dietetics major when my strengths were clearly elsewhere – art, philosophy, writing and such)
4. Attempting to be athletic and sporty (hence I took a snowboarding class and ended up dating my instructor. Haha! Thanks but no thanks. I know. Right. That’s like the equivalent of a guy saying he dated his French teacher.)
5. Dressing the best at 80’s dances.
6. Avoiding Walk and Talk at ward prayer… and

7. What I was going to do the next weekend.

So as you see, avoiding death was not on my list. It didn’t make the cut. And I think the fourth reason down about trying to be athletic may have been what triggered,

‘Climbing a crane is important to me.’

Or ‘The comments about my hair always being curled could finally be less creditable. Prissy girls don’t climb cranes in negative 10 temperatures. Prissy girls don’t climb cranes - period.’
Dont ask questions. This is all the explanation I can offer to you.

The intelligent warnings in me to not do it were but milliseconds long and easy to ignore. And even easier the more I ignored them. They were as small but as many as orange sparks flying from a campfire. You know what I’m talking about.

The construction site was fenced off with a sign 'PRIVATE PROPERTY. NO TRESPASSING.' and a trailer with one light on. It was 1:30 in the AM. There was six of us that decided to climb. Leaving one smart person on the ground – Jeni Smith Baxter. She was our lookout.

Since being quiet was such a factor for not getting caught we said that we’d have to go up one at a time and then send the next person after a few feet up so that we were staggered out on the ladder. (Trying to make smart decisions within a dumb one doesn’t reverse the fact that the first one is still dumb.)

I was the fifth to go up.

The ladder goes up about 15 feet and then you reach a platform. No walls. Just an iron criss crossed floor that allows you to see below. And then you walk on this to go to the next ladder which is now on the other side. As you climb, your back faces the direction of the inside of the tower (so that was nice). Haha .The platform could catch your fall as long you aim yourself at it and hopefully the overlaying sheets of ice would not send you sliding off the edge. After all it IS January - in Logan - in the middle of the night.

I had reached three platforms when I noticed the ice around the bars was getting thicker. I was half way to the next platform but I was getting a funny feeling in my fingers – hmmm. Something I hadn't thought about while on the ground. My gloves were just the thin knitted gloves you buy at Wal-Mart.

They didn’t feel like they were grabbing on as good anymore. So I wrapped my arms around the bars so that I could give my fingers a break from being on the ice and took off my gloves and stuck my fingers in my mouth to warm them up. It stung.
I didn’t know if my imagination was getting the better of me or not … but suddenly and without a real choice to do so, I was having vivid thoughts about my grandparents who had passed away in the past few years. I couldn’t stop thinking about them as my arms were wrapped around the icy iron.

‘Are they here, like angels in the movie heart and soul?'

I couldn’t be sure, but for some reason, I did know ….’Grandma and Grandpa are angry.’ …..and I was going to hear about it later. Maybe after I fell and died. I remember deciding that now was a good time to reflect and repent.

‘I’m sorry I don’t like FHE. I will try harder.’
‘I’m sorry I lied to that boy because I didn’t want to go on walk and talk to Aggie ice cream.’
‘I’m sorry I said my Russian professor was a commie.’
Oh and I’m sorry for calling Tanya Hanks - "Tanya Skanks" – just because it rhymes doesn’t make it true. – But maybe possibly.
'There. I'm good to go. ' I dried off my saliva drenched fingers and kept climbing.

I reached the point that the crane's beam intersected with the tower and by now I was about as pure as the day I was baptized. I was hoping to get beamed up to heaven because I did not want to go back down.

We took our time up there, had spitting lessons and then spitting contests. I lost.
We could see the top of the business building on campus. (The tallest building in Logan. Woewah. )

Business Building on Utah State Campus. The crane was to the left of this view.

Logan’s mountiains did look overwhelmingly majestic. The snow capped peaks were strongly contrasting the black sky. They were more noticeable now than they were when the sun was shining. I felt parallel with them and could look straight on without paying attention to the city below. If anything, my crane adventure had offered me new perspecitves. Mainly the perspective on how much we under estimate God. Or maybe this was me trying to get brownie points while praying that I not die on the way down.

k, so I climbed down. No broken bones. Proud and a part of me was sad that we didn't get caught and chased over the fence. You know, because you always say that AFTER the fact.

The next morning I did my hair with remewed pride in feminity. With every wrap around the curling iron I was foreseeing my anticiapted, “Not that I'm bragging, but I climbed a crane last night. What did you do?”