Flying

See the picture? This is how I want to look when I do trapeze.

I'm nowhere near that right now.

*****

Earlier this year, back when the Grammys were on, I was told by a coworker to YouTube one of the performances by P!nk in which she sings and does acrobatics. After watching it I knew instantly I wanted to do that--ok, maybe not sing AND do that, but do at least the flying part. It would be like flying, right? Weightless? Soaring?

This morning was my first lesson, and right up until the time I jumped off the platform I thought it was going to be that way.

The sensation is closer to trying not to dislocate your shoulders. Or maybe hanging from a moving bridge. Gravity is very, VERY present in this exercise. Particularly with me. I'm not light, by any stretch. And I'm not very coordinated either. But here's the deal--I WANT TO GO BACK. Not because I am still hoping for the delusion of flight (we'll have to save that for hang-gliding), but because I know that there are exercises I can do to be ready for this.

So I'm going back in two weeks.

I had requests from several friends for pictures, by the way, and I wish I could have taken some for you. I think you would find it not only educational but very, very entertaining. (There ain't NOTHIN' like a klutz swinging, let me tell you.) However, passing my phone to a classmate and having them take pictures is out of the question--we're all taped up and chalked up to get a grip on the bar. So the pictures will have to wait. Someday, though, I want to post pictures. According to my sister-in-love they have one of these in San Diego as well, so maybe when I head down there she can take pictures of me. But in the meantime, I have to practice.

And my least favorite part of the whole experience? CLIMBING THE LADDER. Believe me, if you have a fear of falling (like I do), it sucks.

But it will get easier. So I'm told.