Bungee Jumping, Elk Calls, and the Last Few Days

Today: Found a hole in the butt of my jeans.
Saturday: Bungee jumped for the first time.
Last Thursday: Dawn demonstrated her elk call in a loud bar which caused the bouncer and waitress to run over an look at me suspiciously.

Tonight: Heart Way Meeting.

Bungee jumping was fun. As a meditator, it's always interesting to watch you mind and see when you felt fear and how bad it was.

For me it wasn't bad. I had a moment of second thoughts waiting for the appointed time but it wasn't too bad. I was calm, cool and collected.

Vasalissa, on the other hand, was excited enough for both of us, bouncing up and down and barely able to contain herself.

We went to the top, got our instructions. I remained calm, even as they were strapping me in.

Even as the jumpmaster told me to go...

...even as I ran for the jump-off point.

..until the moment I reached the very edge, at which point I had an "EEK!" moment, curling backwards, pulling one foot in the air and going up on my tippy-toes like an elephant confronted by a very ferocious mouse.

Physics, however, would not be denied. I was carried forward off the edge by momentum, but that split-second hesitation meant I took to the air in a most dignified pose.

The fall was a rush. Terrifying, but cool.

As I bounced upward at the end of the rope, I thought, "That was pretty cool. I thought I'd be more scared."

Then I WAS scared as I reached the top of the bounce and fell again.

Nobody told me about the bouncing.

Once I got used to it, it was fun. Elevator drop in the stomach, the stop and bounce upwards, the feeling of weightlessness at the top of the bounce (WHEE!) before you fell again.

When I was finished, I watched Vasalissa jump. Her take off was much more graceful than I.

Afterwards, walking through the mall (We bungee-jumped in a Mall! We're Xtreme Mall Rats!) she looked around at the shuffling, shopping masses and said, "Don't they know what we did? I just want to grab them and shake them."

I remember that kind of excitement from mountain climbing. The first time I went with my sister-in-law, I remember walking back into the tourist center, looking at everyone else and thinking "these people have no idea of how it feels to be alive."

For the record, it feels awesome.

Last Heart Way meeting of 2010 is November 9 at Woodcroft Library. Email thegatewayboyfriend@gmail for registration.

Check out Dan's writing on relationships at thegatewayboyfriend.blogspot.com and learn how to get Dan's DATING FOR SHY GUYS book.