Mommy's Got Mad Skills!

Lately, I have been annoyed by the feeling of being boxed in by everyone else and their perception of who I am. When I vocalized this during the Puerto Rico trip, my sister-in-law, Jill, asked me, "Do you even know who you are any more?" She raised a good point! Who I am got kind of lost when I became a mom, and perhaps, became even more muddled when I switched from being a working mom to being a stay-at-home mom. So (in my mind at least), I have dubbed this the "Summer of Meg!" and I have been trying to take advantage of opportunities to try new things whenever they happen to be presented to me.

A couple of days ago, after watching my brother and his girlfriend try out my cousin's paddle board, I decided that I should try it, too. I ran up to the house and quickly put on my swim suit. In my eagerness to get going, I was already headed into the water before my brother, Ryan, was done giving me some some pointers. Normally, I am more tentative and try to get as much info as possible before jumping into new things, but I figured it would be much harder to chicken out once I had already committed myself to paddle boarding, and I really wanted to force myself to take on the challenge.

Naturally, it turned out that I should have given him a minute to finish explaining how to turn around. (This is why I usually figure things out before attempting them.) I had a slight scare when I got out far enough that the wind was starting to push me out into the bay, finding myself wondering aloud, "How do I turn around?!"  Fortunately, I was not far out, and I was never really in danger. I was just bound and determined to NOT fall into the water since the weather was more reminiscent of a September day in northern Michigan than the late-July day that it actually was.

So, I used my instincts and sat down (or squatted actually -- I don't really remember -- and my dear husband was kind enough to not shoot film or video of this portion of the show). Then, I pushed the paddle deep and hard until I was able to turn the board back toward shore. After turning around, I hopped back up, and noticed that I had a rather large audience, much larger than when I had started (and undoubtedly they were all thinking, "What?! Meg is paddle boarding?! Better not miss this!!).

Well, this meant that I had even more incentive to not fall in the drink. Most of the family was there watching, including my cousin John, the owner of the paddle board, and for some reason not looking stupid in front of him was imperative. I remember laughing and yelling, "I got this!" I was feeling more confident since I figured out how to turn around, how to get down and back up again, and most importantly, I did it all without falling in, so I hoped they didn't notice my legs were shaking a bit while I negotiated all this.

Safely back on shore, everyone seemed very impressed that I had stayed upright the entire time. My dad commented that he assumed that I would fall in. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Dad! I informed him that I was highly motivated. My mom suggested that most people fall the first time they try it, but I am not sure what she was basing this on. Why were they all so surprised? Did I mention that I was highly motivated? The water wasn't as warm as I would like, and the air definitely was not warm enough for me to be getting soaked. The most telling of all was Mia's shocked reaction, "Mom! I can't believe you can paddle board!!" I replied, "Well, guess what? I've got all kinds of skills that you don't know about!" Clearly, I am not known for being an adventurous spirit, but maybe on I am on the right track with the "Summer of Meg!"

"Do one thing every day that scares you." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

{Trying something new...}

{I enjoyed my adventure, but I was relieved to return to shore!}