Oh. My. Well, there’s no clever lead-in to this post, as my adrenaline is still coursing through my veins. Plainly stated, I flew through the air on a trapeze. It’s something I’ve always (kind of) wanted to do. A friend of mine invited us to take a group lesson, so I figured, why not? If I don’t do it now, with seven of my friends, I’m surely never going to do it. And so, I did it.
This past Sunday afternoon we arrived at Richie Gaona’s trapeze school in the Valley to find a group of girls finishing a lesson. They were practicing knee hangs and grabs. I watched, bewildered, and thought they were a pretty advanced group. Ha. Had I known at that moment that we would be coached to do the very same tricks, I may have backed up and left. Thankfully, ignorance is bliss.
After a couple quick instructions on the ground, we were fitted with harnesses and queued up by the ladder. The initial climb and jump were by far the scariest. I won’t say it was easy after that; instead, I’ll say it just got less scary. It was simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating; truly one of the most exciting experiences of my entire life.We swung from our arms, our knees, back flipped off the bar. We even crossed to a grab by the other instructor who dangled us from his arms.
Now, four days later, I am still reeling just thinking about it. It was crazy. And awesome. And if you get the chance, you should definitely go for a swing.