My friend, Ellen, writes a Blog at Braveheart Women\u2019s web site called ELLENOUTLOUD. This morning she wrote about almost going parasailing.\u00a0 I relived the time that I did.<\/p>\n
I was a guest of two dear friends.\u00a0 We were enjoying lunch on the beach in Puerto Vallarta.\u00a0 We lunched, chatted and watched as humanity in all shapes and sizes haltered up, took a running jump at the end of a pull-boat and went whooshing up in the air like a human kite.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to do that,\u201d said Brad, the more whimsical of the duo.\u00a0 \u201cNot me,\u201d declared Craig.\u00a0 I remember hims saying something about proportionate odds and car wrecks but I can\u2019t pull it out of my memory with any precision.<\/p>\n
Always ready to support the dream of a friend I encouraged Brad.\u00a0 \u201cYou should DO it if you\u2019ve always wanted to.\u201d\u00a0 Then came the phrase familiar from grade school.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will if you will.\u201d<\/p>\n
My objections were numerous.\u00a0 The most practical being that I was rather heavy at the time, out of shape and not fond of heights.\u00a0 Then Brad levied the stickler.\u00a0 The one thing that always trumps any level of my apprehension or fear.\u00a0 He quoted my own poetry to me.
\n\u201cChoose with no regret.\u00a0 When we\u2019re back home thinking about this holiday – will you be sorry that you didn\u2019t do this?\u201d\u00a0 Not only did I go but I went first.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t for bravado\u2019s sake – I just didn\u2019t want to sit through HIS flight anticipating my own.<\/p>\n
Never mind the instructions were all in Spanish.\u00a0 Gestures helped.\u00a0 With little grasp of what was before me I understood that that I was supposed to run like a bat out of hades when they signaled, \u201cGO!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I did.<\/p>\n
The loft was exhilarating. The breathlessness of nothing substantial under me was other-worldly.\u00a0 Looking side to side at expanded bird wings was amazing.\u00a0 They were no longer surprised to fly among wingless birds.\u00a0 I was inspired to sing the Bruce Cockburn lyrics, \u201cThe only diamonds in the world that mean anything to me, are conjured up by wind and sunlight sparkling on the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n
As with many sublime experiences in life – this one was a contradiction.\u00a0 Because in the midst of all the wonder and beauty, I was petrified.\u00a0 Held in place by a very old seat mechanism and lines that began looking thinner the higher I got – I had crossed my arms in front of me and held the two lines in taut certainty.\u00a0 For more than ten minutes.<\/p>\n
Did you ever, as a youngster, pull that physiological muscle trick of standing in a doorway pressing your arms as hard as you could against the door frame?\u00a0 And then, minutes later, step out of the frame and have your arms simply rise on their own out of sheer over use?\u00a0 Holding parasails reins crossed arms with all your might for ten minutes is a lot like that.<\/p>\n
So when the boat circled back to shore and the ground crew was ready for me to reach one of the lines and pull it in so I would be directed down to the landing strip on the beach…I had no strength left in either of my arms to pull.\u00a0 I\u2019d used all my\u00a0 muscle juice hanging on for dear life.\u00a0 I had no pull left.\u00a0 None.<\/p>\n
The instructions were still coming, joined by a chorus of others, all in Spanish, yelling, \u201cPull!\u00a0 Pull?\u201d\u00a0 Funny how the mind translates easily when it\u2019s your safety hanging in the balance (pardon the pun).\u00a0 Now, instead of sparkling spin drifts I was observing the roof tops of the beach dwellings of P.V.\u00a0 Satellite dishes, hopeful gardens, outdoor dining set ups, some folks sun bathing.\u00a0 It even appeared some residents used their rooftops for extra storage.\u00a0 Who would know without the benefit of a view like this?\u00a0 The distraction of the rooftops actually did the trick.\u00a0 I was able to pry loose my fingers frozen to the lines and, with both arms, pull the line that drew me back to the beach.\u00a0 My feet came close toward the final descent to having more than a bird\u2019s eye view of those roof tops.<\/p>\n
I was grateful to have lost my translating capacity once both feet were on the ground.\u00a0 I am positive many of the sentences, if not most, involved pleas to never fly with them again. I heard no one say in their best marketing voice, \u201cWe know you have many choices when you are making your para-sailing decision in P.V. – thank you for choosing us.\u201d\u00a0 Not one.<\/p>\n
Later that day, after Brad had successfully taken his ride, we compared experiences.\u00a0 Brad announced mine was better because it made a more interesting story.\u00a0 He echoed Mark Twain and Lucille Ball\u2019s sentiments by saying, essentially, that if you ARE going to have regret, it\u2019s better to have it over something you DID rather than something you DIDN\u2019T DO.\u00a0\u00a0 He declared he\u2019d remember this for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n
The memory turned out to be a short one.\u00a0 Brad died less than two years later.\u00a0 And while I know he did have some regrets, not one of them had anything to do with para sailing in Puerto Vallarta.\u00a0 Not one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My friend, Ellen, writes a Blog at Braveheart Women\u2019s web site called ELLENOUTLOUD. This morning she wrote about almost going parasailing.\u00a0 I relived the time that I did. I was a guest of two dear friends.\u00a0 We were enjoying lunch on the beach in Puerto Vallarta.\u00a0 We lunched, chatted and watched as humanity in all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[250,10,249,248],"class_list":["post-542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-between-friends","tag-ellenoutloud","tag-mary-anne-radmacher","tag-para-sailing","tag-puerto-vallarta"],"yoast_head":"\n