Trapeze Party!

posted by Melissa Baumgart
It went off without a hitch.  Well, I mean, I didn't get my legs hitched over the trapeze bar...but the party went off without a hitch.  Yes, I was disappointed in my less than average flights with everyone watching.  But I had a better time than I thought I would.  It sure was fun to see my friends facing their fears, meeting their hidden circus talents, being super excited and filled with adrenaline, and choosing to climb that ladder again and again. (BTW...random videos are embedded throughout the post!  Beware!)

Here is me, almost getting to the knee hang at the party!

Some quotes I heard throughout the night and notes I received after are:

"Thanks for inviting me to feel so alive!"

"Thank you, Good Luck With That!"  (this was pure sarcasm, and the kind that is meant to hide the fact that you really mean every word of it)

"Trapeeeeeze!!!" (a text from Lily on her way home from school)
And here is Lily in flight:

"That was terrifying...and nice." (from our youngest flier)  "I may do a second try."  (and he did!)

"We are the dreamers!!!"  (Said with both hands raised in the air, and I still do not know what they were talking about.)

"I really appreciated the opportunity to feel full of my terror of heights, and to actually do it anyways! It was really fun as well to see all the nimble acrobats hidden inside the average person emerge and take off!
Viva the magic in the average person!!"

"I didn't think it would be scary, but I almost cried up there.  I was like not able to grab that bar.  It is so heavy."

And now, a long time reader, and many times a commenter, my dear friend Matt getting caught!

And as always, so many cheers from everyone watching, no matter what your feat.  Just jumping and swinging would elicit hoots and hollers from everyone present.  And forget about it, if you managed the knee hang, wow!  People go crazy!

Nearly all the first timers faced some fears.  And even if they said they weren't afraid up there, I think their faces said differently.  Somehow what I read as facing a tiny bit of fear (you know, healthy, adrenaline producing fear) registered as "I was very focused" to one of my fellow fliers.  But it is true, while some eagerly anticipate their turn, other people really are feeling a lot more fear up there than others.

Being someone that had been there, dreading and regretting being at the top on the platform, I felt a kinship with those that truly looked faint-hearted.  And yet, I have to say, I was thinking that they should just do it.  Just do it and move through that despair.  I was standing, not only protected by the ground on which my feet were planted, but also from a perspective of knowing how safe this really was.

It made me all the more thankful for Kelly's (the woman at the top, holding our safety belts and talking us down from panic) compassionate nature.  Here is someone to whom trapeze is second nature, and she is able to be gentle and caring to those of us facing our first jump.  Facing perhaps one of our greatest fears we hold as truth.  And then, with her tender voice and reassurance, jumping into a new person.  Becoming more than we thought we could be standing safely on the ground.

And what's more?  My darling Lily is signing up for trapeze classes!  She hopes to soon be invited into the Junior Fliers Troupe at SANCA.  So, you never know, maybe being inspired to choose trapeze was simply a mother's intuition.  More on that to come....

-Melissa