Time for me to Fly

A few weeks ago my friend Nikol sent me an email that said "Should we take a trapeze class?" and my response was something like, "I think we must."

So today was the day. And I remembered two important things when I woke up. #1 I'm afraid of heights. #2 I have terrible motion sickness, and back and forth motion is the worst instigator. Too late.

I'm not sure what I was expecting--I think I pictured a room full of swinging monkey bars about 5 feet off the ground, and something more like a fitness class. I was not picturing a huge warehouse with a 3 story high trapeze bar and a big ol' net underneath. And even when we got there and saw the set-up, I figured first timers probably just played on the demo bar.

No. No, they don't.

The demo went something like this: "So you put your knees up on the bar and hang upside down, and then when it's time to dismount you make your legs go back and forth and then you tuck into a back flip. Got that? Okay, who's first?"

My first time up the ladder, with my motion sickness bracelet firmly in place, I was shaking like a leaf and pretty sure I would be coming right back down that ladder in a few minutes time. And then once I was up there I was even more sure of it. Even typing this now my heart is beating 1000 times a minute.

But then I jumped.

And HELL YEAH!!! Why was flying trapeze not on the career aptitude test in high school???? Because living in a warehouse making curry with a bunch of housemates at night and doing flying trapeze every day sounds like soooo much more fun than nursing school.

So besides learning that I'd been cheated out of a very rewarding career, the most important lesson I learned during flying trapeze? When your instructor tells you to do something, you do it, and you do it when they say to do it, and you don't think about it even for a second. So maybe when your friends tell you to jump off the cliff, you can use your best judgment, ponder it for a few minutes, and choose not to. But when your trapeze instructor says, "Hang upside down by your knees and then let go!" You do it, even if it is the most ludicrous thing you've ever heard and is compeletely NOT what you would usually do.

But when you do it exactly like they say, then the blond guy from This is Spinal Tap swings along to catch you.

I will definitely be going back. And Nikol can continue to email me with her crazy suggestions.