The one where I join the flying wallendas.

Go Ahead and JUMP! from Rachel on Vimeo.

It's true: I was the fattest kid in trapeze class. I was pretty sure my attempt would go like this: jump off the platform and immediately fall into the net due to pathetically nonexistent upper arm strength. I knew there was no way I could support the weight of my body hanging onto a bar like that, and there certainly was no way I would be able to haul my legs up over my head and dangle from my knees, much less extricate myself from that position in order to properly dismount the trapeze. (Is that what it's called in trapeze? "Dismount?")

What I didn't know is that the forward momentum of flying through the air pretty much propels one's body and makes those positions, if not easily, at least relatively likely achievable.

Aside from our visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, trapeze lessons were my favorite part of my trip to New York. I've forced myself to be brave so many times this year. Back in February I claimed that performing a part in the local production of The Vagina Monologues was my brave act of the year. Little did I know, it was only the beginning. Since February, I've created a new home with my son, divorced my cheating husband, adjusted to life as a single mom, driven by myself in downtown Chicago, vacationed in New York City, taken trapeze lessons, and SUNG KARAOKE. The karaoke was definitely the scariest act. ;)

But back to trapeze lessons.

Before I even knew I was signed up for them (The lessons were a surprise birthday gift from my super cool friend Megan), I wrote about feeling like I was on a flying trapeze. You have NO IDEA how liberating it was to jump off that platform and feel myself flying through the air. No idea. And to know that no matter what I did, everything was going to be A okay.




The Catch from Rachel on Vimeo.

As it turns out, all those things you tell yourself you can't do...when it comes time...and you HAVE to...you just do it. Because you can do ANYTHING. Anything.

(It also didn't hurt that the guy catching me was super cute and totally ripped. I'm just sayin'.)