Five-Minute Friday: Exhale

Airborne! Exhale!

Go: My son texted  me yesterday:

"Are you up for me wake boarding 2nt?"

I quickly replied, "Sure!"

We were meeting him and his three kids

at a near-by lake and marina

for his birthday supper.

He turned 36 on  July 2nd.

We got in the boat

and met up with his friend 

and his parents.

The friend has a boat

specially set up

for wake boarding.

Two wake boards are mounted on the boat.

My son swam over to Brent's boat 

and got all 'situated' with the board and rope.

He wasn't sure how it would go.

He got up the first time as I knew  he would.

He tried a big jump twice and fell.

The third time he went airborne.

I took in a big gulp of a breath.

He jumped the wave and stayed up when he landed.

I exhaled.

I'm sure he did too.

He positioned himself so that when he let go,

he would glide right over to his own boat,

where his three kids and I were waiting.

We all exhaled  again.

He did it.

Not bad for a 36-yr.-old single father of 3!

stop.

To explain why this is important to write about:

We moved out to the lake for summers when Doug was 9.

He had been really sick, and I just wanted to get him out

 in the fresh air, away from the stress of every day life.

  (He was on a special diet also.)

He got much better.

That summer he began in earnest to water ski and knee board.

Later, he would turn to wake boards where your feet are in special 'holders' much like skiing.

As he got older, he strove to do a 360 flip.

I took it all in stride.

Then when he was  13, his sister, Sara, was in a terrible car accident

one July day

and broke her neck as well as two bones

 in one of her legs.

For 5 months she wore a halo screwed into her head.

It was a horrendous time for us.

However, the next summer

she was back on skis---you'd never know

 she'd had any physical problems.

Doug, too, got back into the swing of summer

and wake  boarding.

He began doing the flips again . . .

and landing head first in the water.

There were times I could barely breathe.

And  I, of course, was relieved when he popped up in the water,

happy and fine---no broken neck.

Then a divorce occurred 

and my days of watching them

behind the boat

ended.

I've only seen him wake board twice

in 20 years,

and the 2nd time 

was last night.

 That's why it was a momentous occasion.

                                          

For more on "Exhale"

go on over to Five-Minute Friday

at Lisa-Jo's.