Fun with water
I generally like to think of myself as strong, at least for a girl. Especially since I have to take care of things myself by default. I'm not intimidated by moving furniture, or trying to carry all my groceries at once so I only have to make a single trip from my car, or hefting my own suitcases cleanly up and down my apartment stairs even when they're at or over the 50-pound airline check limit. Piece of cake. Yesterday afternoon was another story, or so my muscles are now telling me...
My church didn't have an evening service this week, and Janet, who lives on a lake, invited over anyone who wanted to come enjoy the water in the afternoon. It was really fun! Candi and I took our first spins out on the jet ski together and managed not to maim or throw each other, even when switching drivers several times in the middle of the lake, so I think it was a success. The second person gets a bumpier ride, so Candi wanted to try it with 3 (there are "spots" for 3, but we soon found that would be a bit optimistic), so later Brian, Candi and I took a spin with her on the back and me driving. It was going well for a while until I was feeling a little adventurous with my turning, and we all looked one way at a house and I happened to turn at the same time--the tipping couldn't have happened more cleanly if I'd tried! At least it was a good opportunity to switch drivers. :)
Janet's daughters and their friend thought it would be fun to see what fish they could catch off the dock and enlisted anyone and everyone's help unhooking them every few minutes. I took my turn for a while, but decided I was done when one of them lost his cookies all over (technically the bait was hot dog, but that wasn't all he was tossing onto the deck...). It was hilarious when they caught a gar fish later because they kept shrieking every time it flip flopped, or when Tim held it close to them (with a death grip) for Janet to take a picture. I think a few photos will probably turn out, although from the looks on their faces, you'd think Jaws was being held in front of them!
Somewhere in the middle there, Janet's brother took the boat out to go tubing. (A brief interjection for my parents--this is not the tube kiting which you saw on the news about recent safety warnings). Normally, I have a bit of a fear of water since I can't actually swim, only back float, but for some reason I become exceedingly adventurous with a life jacket, so I thought I'd go out. Of course, I also happily volunteered to not be among the first 3 to take a turn on the tube itself, so I could see if there were any tricks. The first lesson I was taught is when in the boat waiting for riders to get back on the tube, always ask if they're ready to go while they're still trying to climb back on because their panicked "No! No!" is so much funnier that way! Other than that, tubing is pretty much holding on for dear life and laughing between shrieks and water sprays and bouncing over the wake. And another big tip is to wear a life jacket that fits--much easier to keep your head above water when it lifts you, instead of shifting 4 inches above your shoulders (the perfect distance to get a nose full of water). Since I speak from experience on that last point, I'm sure you can already guess that I fell off. Technically that's not an uncommon thing--everyone was falling off left and right, although Chad and Tiffany showed some admirable fortitude.
But finally, I circle around to my original point. Groceries? Easy-peasy. Loaded suitcases? Child's play. Attempting to anchor myself on a bobbing, inflatable apparatus while being pulled across the water, then taking a dunk and trying to float with a shifty life jacket while concentrating on breathing the water out rather than farther in, and then pulling my oh-so-not-petite frame out of the water for both the tubing and jet ski dunkings...that I would put in the more challenging category. Still managed it. Although grace and style points may not have been 10's. So my torso muscles have been chatting with me all day with occasional gripes, but it was such a fun time that I can easily tell them to shush and give them a few days before I demand anything else. I'll feed them a line about it being a learning experience and see what I can coax out of them in the form of improvement next time. You never know!
My church didn't have an evening service this week, and Janet, who lives on a lake, invited over anyone who wanted to come enjoy the water in the afternoon. It was really fun! Candi and I took our first spins out on the jet ski together and managed not to maim or throw each other, even when switching drivers several times in the middle of the lake, so I think it was a success. The second person gets a bumpier ride, so Candi wanted to try it with 3 (there are "spots" for 3, but we soon found that would be a bit optimistic), so later Brian, Candi and I took a spin with her on the back and me driving. It was going well for a while until I was feeling a little adventurous with my turning, and we all looked one way at a house and I happened to turn at the same time--the tipping couldn't have happened more cleanly if I'd tried! At least it was a good opportunity to switch drivers. :)
Janet's daughters and their friend thought it would be fun to see what fish they could catch off the dock and enlisted anyone and everyone's help unhooking them every few minutes. I took my turn for a while, but decided I was done when one of them lost his cookies all over (technically the bait was hot dog, but that wasn't all he was tossing onto the deck...). It was hilarious when they caught a gar fish later because they kept shrieking every time it flip flopped, or when Tim held it close to them (with a death grip) for Janet to take a picture. I think a few photos will probably turn out, although from the looks on their faces, you'd think Jaws was being held in front of them!
Somewhere in the middle there, Janet's brother took the boat out to go tubing. (A brief interjection for my parents--this is not the tube kiting which you saw on the news about recent safety warnings). Normally, I have a bit of a fear of water since I can't actually swim, only back float, but for some reason I become exceedingly adventurous with a life jacket, so I thought I'd go out. Of course, I also happily volunteered to not be among the first 3 to take a turn on the tube itself, so I could see if there were any tricks. The first lesson I was taught is when in the boat waiting for riders to get back on the tube, always ask if they're ready to go while they're still trying to climb back on because their panicked "No! No!" is so much funnier that way! Other than that, tubing is pretty much holding on for dear life and laughing between shrieks and water sprays and bouncing over the wake. And another big tip is to wear a life jacket that fits--much easier to keep your head above water when it lifts you, instead of shifting 4 inches above your shoulders (the perfect distance to get a nose full of water). Since I speak from experience on that last point, I'm sure you can already guess that I fell off. Technically that's not an uncommon thing--everyone was falling off left and right, although Chad and Tiffany showed some admirable fortitude.
But finally, I circle around to my original point. Groceries? Easy-peasy. Loaded suitcases? Child's play. Attempting to anchor myself on a bobbing, inflatable apparatus while being pulled across the water, then taking a dunk and trying to float with a shifty life jacket while concentrating on breathing the water out rather than farther in, and then pulling my oh-so-not-petite frame out of the water for both the tubing and jet ski dunkings...that I would put in the more challenging category. Still managed it. Although grace and style points may not have been 10's. So my torso muscles have been chatting with me all day with occasional gripes, but it was such a fun time that I can easily tell them to shush and give them a few days before I demand anything else. I'll feed them a line about it being a learning experience and see what I can coax out of them in the form of improvement next time. You never know!
posted by Shannon at 12:45 AM
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