We had a heck of a Saturday. Sarah loves surprises so I arranged for us to take a flying trapeze class. Indeed… I’m talking about flying through the air with ex-gymnasts (naturally, what else would they do for work?) guiding you through all the swings, flips, leg hangs and pass-offs while suspended 30-40 feet above ground. You, our humble readership, are likely thinking to yourselves, "great! Well done Dominic. Way to keep the marriage fresh and exciting…What a swell husband. Fool-proof plan... What could go wrong?" Well…..
Yes, that's an emergency room.**
After some local anesthetic and a few stitches, Sarah's gaping head wound has been remedied. Apparently trapeze can be dangerous... but oh so fun.
Sarah was very surprised as we approached the large warehouse (our "Big-Top for the day) nestled into the industrial area of South Seattle.
After some brief stretching and a quick safety overview we were up the ladder and onto the 40 foot high platform. They started us slowly with just a hang and dismount. No problem. We both stuck the landings. In this case that meant landing squarely on our bottoms in the center of the netting below.
(Note: our camera ran out of batteries so we only have a few pictures from the beginning of the class and this one video of Sarah)
Our day took a turn for the worse just after learning the, 'pull your legs up through your body and hang from your knees while reaching back' move, with the obvious next step of reaching back and being handed off to the instructor, swinging in from the opposite direction.
Sarah likes to attack things with a certain zeal and intensity that I admire greatly. When she does something, she fully goes for it. (I imagine we'll have a post up here soon outlining our snow-skiing adventure.) Unfortunately, her decision to not settle for the one-and-a-half flip dismount suggested by the instructor, and instead channel her inner Greg Louganis (am I dating myself here?) and attempt the double flip, led to an exchange between her knee and forehead that was frightening. She drilled herself. Right in the noggin. In fairness she only missed the second full rotation by a matter of inches. But as with "athletes" such as us (see Louganis reference above) success and failure hinges on mere millimeters.
I'm no doctor, but I can tell you that the forehead bleeds my friends...like a 1920s West Texas oil strike. Sarah was a trooper as she nearly bled out, suspended in a net, 15 feet off the ground.
The management was very kind and offered us free passes to come back and complete our training whenever we would like. I imagine we'll take them up on the offer at some point, but for now I think we'll give it a few weeks to allow for recovery. Also that will allow me more time to plan more super safe surprises...
**It should be noted that this picture was taken in the emergency room while six police officers argued and fought with a hardened criminal on the other side of the sheet as they tried to handcuff him after surgery. He was not happy at all. Literally three feet away, Sarah's spirits are not dampened. She is a wonder indeed.
