So, this is my first blog attempt, and my very first words. I feel like a child in a new building, who hears the voices of loved ones, but is lost in some strange room...following the muffled mutters of beloved voices in the distance as the only guidance. It is a feeling inside my stomach of grit determination and also wonder...like sand in my stomach. Maybe this does not make sense to you...
It is the same feeling that I got the first time I went spelunking at New Frontiers. We entered the cave, and I hung back with a lady named Janet Harrison who was a staff member there. As we traversed the long tight passageways, Janet would suddenly grab my arm and whisper into the darkness, "Let's go this way!" and I would find myself squeezing though crags in the walls and ending up in all different shapes and positions in order to shimmy through. I could not see anything directly in front of me, but I kept feeling her toes as we crawled. Sometimes I saw a faint glimmer of some other camper's flashlight in the distance, but that was not enough for me to see my way in the pitch dark. All the time I heard the faint rumble of voices in the distance and sometimes a shriek as some girl touched something "slimy" (probably a poor stalactite or stalagmite covered in drips of pure mineral water). I remember thinking, 'What if she loses her way and we cannot find the group again?' So I memorized the rocks that I was crawling on, and what they felt like. I then kept a close eye out for any sign of the other campers so that i could crawl in their direction if need be.
We always ended up getting to a destination before the group, so we would crouch in a bend in the rocks until the group passed by. Then we would silently step out and in line with them. I would walk along until I heard that clear voice filled with adventure whisper, "come on, Dee! Let's go this way!" and away we would go again! It was glorious! To this day Janet Harrison is one of my mentors (though I have never told her that...I think she would become shy if I told her). It is because of her that I knew everything about the cave that I did. It is because of her that I was inspired to work there in the first place. And to this day she is one of my very dearest friends. One day I will post a photo of her ::smiles::

this concludes my speech...are there any questions?