There’s a moment at the top of the pamper pole when the world goes quiet. The trees, the sky, the voices below, all of it softens. And you’re left with one question: Am I doing this?
Judy answered that question on her 68th birthday with a resounding, joyful yes.
The leap that started long before the climb
Judy is the mother of Elyse Lohrbach, our Executive Director. But to understand what happened on that pole, you have to rewind about two years, to a woman navigating real pain, real limits, and a crossroads many of us will one day face.
At 67, significant back problems led Judy to try the gym for the first time in her life. She was also a breast cancer survivor. She knew hard things. And she refused to let them win. “I didn’t want to live on medications and injections,” she told us.
She went. She kept going. Then she saw Elyse’s own Camp Joy pamper pole jump on video and that was all she needed. “I saw the video and said, ‘I want to do that in the spring.'” Her gym class started a countdown. She never lost sight of it.
What the pamper pole does
The pamper pole is one of the most powerful elements in our adult leadership and team building experiences. It’s a 25ft tall wooden pole with a small platform at the top, and participants are safely harnessed and belayed by their teammates the entire way. But the challenge was never really about the pole.
It’s a challenge by choice experience, which means every person meets it exactly where they are. Some will walk up, place a hand on it, and honor the courage it took just to show up. Some will climb partway and choose that as their moment. Some will reach the top, sit with the height, and decide to come back down. Others will stand, leap, or jump. No two experiences are the same, and none is more valid than another.
What the pamper pole asks of every single person is the same: to get honest with your edge, to feel the discomfort, and to choose your next step from that place. That’s the peak experience. Genuine challenge met with genuine triumph, whatever that looks like for you.
What Judy brought to the top of that pole was two years of quiet, daily courage, every gym class, every hard day she showed up anyway.
Her message to all of us
At the top, she didn’t rush. She paused and took it all in. When asked what she was thinking, she said:
“There’s still so much goodness out there. It was just a moment of solitude and peace and joy and gratefulness.”
Those of us who know Elyse will recognize something in that. The same qualities that make Elyse an extraordinary leader, stepping into discomfort, believing people are capable of more than they know, being fully present in a moment of vulnerability, are right there in her mother. Courage runs in that family.
Judy hasn’t been back to pain management. She’s off her medications. And her advice?
“You need to keep moving. Don’t let the aches and pains stop you. Take care of yourself as soon as you can. Don’t wait until you’re my age.”
Growth has no expiration date. The countdown can begin today.
Happy 68th birthday, Judy. Thank you for showing us what’s possible.
Ready to Bring Your Team?
The pamper pole is waiting. So is the version of your team that doesn’t know what they’re capable of yet.
Connect with Chelsie, our Strategic Growth Manager: [email protected]