TAKE COURAGE ! ! !I led a perfectly normal life growing up. You know, the normal things for a girl to do like climbing trees, belly-flopping off the high diving board at the city park pool, walking on garage peaks, and jumping from hay mows and second story windows. I cannot pinpoint the exact moment when my courage began to ebb, but it totally vanished one spring day in 1952 at the Statue of Liberty. I began the climb up the staircase quite innocently, never dreaming that I would disgrace myself and inconvenience all those behind me on that one-way set of steps. 
Suffice to say, I could go no higher once I noted where I was headed and the distance down to where I began. I managed to squeeze past ascending tourists, holding my breath and tears until I was once again on terra firma! Sheer terror assailed me in a cog car going up the side of a mountain in Switzerland. The signs inside said REMAIN SEATED in three languages but people moved to MY side of that car so they could look down at the jagged rocks below. I KNEW that car was going to tip over. 
Panic set in and when I reached the mountain peak I jumped in a gondola headed down. I’ll never know what I could have seen from atop Mount Pilatus! Some folks are just plain foolhardy. The Cliffs of Mohr in Ireland are famous for their height and the sea crashing against their bases. No way was I going to get even close to the edge! I busied myself buying a sweater instead of having a queasy stomach. 
One up-close-and-in-my-face look at the Eiffel Tower caused me to turn tail and run for a taxi! And if I’d known that the windows at the top of Sydney Tower were cantilevered, I’d have stayed on the ground and bought picture postcards. You know that song, "Bridge Over Troubled Waters?" Well, I’ve rewritten it. "Troubled Passenger On Bridge Over Water" explains my white-knuckled rides on what must be the worst replacement for ferry boats that I've ever seen. 
Long ago I thought the signs Take Courage on English pubs were exhortations left over from WW2 for the English to be brave. Not so. Courage was a brand of ale! Nonetheless, this acrophobic has adopted that message. I repeat it to myself each time I have to go to the second step on my step ladder!
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