I can do that!

 

"I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere
And you know it's really hard to hold your breath

I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared
I was the cosmic kid in full costume dress."

As we grow up, we sometimes think we are invincible—-check that, we do think we are invincible! That is until it is proven we are far from it.

I can say I have done some rather dumb things in my life. I “might” have gone over the speed limit, potentially have used toilet paper in other ways than what it is intended for, and have hung out with others who might have persuaded me to drink well beyond my limits. (But, I didn’t drive!)

When I turned 16, like many of my friends, we got our driver’s license…the first day I had it, I went with my parents to the store. I drove and I guess I “might” have accelerated a bit too fast and left some of the tire behind. Now, my Dad was as calm as could be, but he let me know…”if you do this again, you will not have the car.” I took him at his word and only “laid rubber” when I knew he was not around. I wonder if he ever gave consideration as to why the tires were wearing down so fast? If so, it never came up.

But there were some things I did that I am okay with. I had my first job when I was 15, woke up at 5 AM on Saturday’s to go bake bagels at a local bakery. I needed to be there at 5:30 AM; let me assure you, when you are 15 and you have to get up at that hour on a Saturday morning, you are showing commitment…and I made a whopping $1.65 an hour. 

Because I really didn’t have a defined talent, if I were to showoff, it would be obvious it was a mistake. I remember one time when I played organized hockey, I invited my friends to one of my games. What a mistake that was…I was playing defense and kept falling and the opposing players scored every time I was on the ice. Why didn’t I stop them? I couldn’t skate backwards and that’s rather important in hockey! Oh by the way, that was my last season, but I am glad I played even though I had no reason to be out there and certainly not on defense.

One reason I like to see people show off is they eventually make a fool of themselves. This is a true story: We were at a friend’s house when I was probably 15 and there was a guy who was a couple of year’s older than we were riding a mini-bike. If you are not familiar with them, they’re like smaller motorcycles; they may be smaller but they still go fast. So what did he do? He was riding like he was cool and when he went by us, he went right into a mailbox. He was okay, but we weren’t—-we could not stop laughing and he rode away slowly with his “tail between the exhaust pipes.”

The photo above was taken at one of the Chicago Air & Water Show weekends;  the Blue Angels were flying in formation when one of the planes flipped. Like everyone in the crowd, we “oohed and aahed”—-but you had to wonder if this pilot was showing off. The answer was “Yes” but we were really glad he did! 

Thanks for stopping by.