THE FUSE

"Never in my LIFE would I imagine you'd do something like that," my brother texts in our family group chat. He's responding to a video of me climbing a 70-foot strangler fig tree . . . then jumping from the very top. My harness quickly catches me as I swing through the canopy of leaves, flipping upside down to see Costa Rica's Matapalo from an entirely new perspective. In the video, I'm laughing with my arms spread wide and upper body dangling towards the ground like a human bat. Any fear I initially felt while clambering up the tree's giant, gnarled trunk has dissipated, and for a few rare moments, I am completely free.