My friend Laura is super brave and full of awesome believes in making yourself do stuff that frightens you...in owning it so that it makes you feel confident and capable and stronger in every way about the scary parts of life that you can't control.
She is also scared to death of heights and even more nervous about skinny ladders and climbing them. So climbing a high and narrow ladder to grab a trapeze bar and leap over the treetops was a really big deal for her.
But she did it anyway, just to prove she could.
And then she climbed the ladder a second time and leaped again!
And to have the guts to face your fears and leap over the treetops twice in a row means that she has twice as much fresh strength and confidence banked and is completely ready to tackle anything.
My dear husband Karl has fresh swagger too, since he climbed the same ladder and leaped. But maybe a little less, since he tweaked his shoulder and thought better of jumping a second time. He thought it might be difficult to explain to his doctor the details of how exactly he re-injured his rotator cuff with flying trapeze moves.
As his wife and nurse, I completely agreed with his mature decision to know when to say when.
We also learned that youth and grace help a whole lot while learning to trapeze. Genevieve is the most graceful 25 year old I have ever known so it was no surprise to see her fly through the air with the greatest of ease.
Gen is also, probably, the only cellist in the whole wide world to warm up for an enormous concert with trapeze work.
This is a photo of the massively popular Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Lumenosity show that my young and graceful friend Gen will play in later that evening.
If you look beyond the sea of fans, just at the base of Music Hall, you will see a white tent.
And in the tent sits my favorite trapeze-ing cellist, having flown through the air and now ready to perform for tens of thousands.
And back on the trapeze Jamie proved himself to be a skilled flyer, hanging by his knees and doing backflips. How is it that teenage boys are natural trapeze flippers?
I had no idea that Jamie had backflip talent until I saw it in person.
He absolutely did not get those mad trapeze skills from his mom.
And Theo, could join up with Cirque du Soleil tomorrow if the 9th grade wasn't waiting for him. He was incredible, proving once again that teenage boys are really good at the extreme.
And then it was time for the little girls to show their bravery, and so they did.
Rosie and Lucy are eager for almost anything that their big brothers can do, so they each took turns leaping and flying and were completely cool about the whole experience.
These two little sisters proved themselves to be brave and mighty girls... if you can do this when you are 7 and 9 years old...you can be ready for anything throws at you.
And Henry.
Henry came directly from football practice to have a turn and developed his own style on the trapeze. It involved a lot of kicking, some shrieking and a whole lot of determination.
The best and bravest trapeze team in the whole wide world ... both flyers and cheerleaders...
Unfortunately Theo left before I had a chance to ask him to pose with his team.
And so I officially nominate Laura Trujillo Faherty, the only mother in the group with the guts to fly, to represent myself and all trapeze-y moms everywhere.
Because, while I agree and understand that it's important to face your fears and do scary things, I could still not muster the courage and nerve it takes to leap and fly.
So thank you Laura for flying for me and proving that brave moms can take on anything they decide to do...even if they are scared and a little bit freaked out.
And bonus points for wearing a totally stylish and cool Ohio Against the World shirt while flying...it makes me proud and happy that you can show your new Ohio love by t shirt.
For anyone interested, I would completely recommend my new favorite trapeze school...Cincinnati Circus.
They are safe, professional and are very good at explaining how to achieve your best trapeze moves... check out their structure set up in Burnet Woods on the University of Cincinnati campus.
