Flippin' Great

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #22:

Success

When I was young, I always wanted to learn to do back handsprings on the ground and back flips on the trampoline. 

I had a gym teacher who was a former gymnastics coach, so one day I asked him if he would help me learn to do back handsprings. I had done them several times with spotters, but I could never muster up the courage to try doing one on my own. My teacher spotted me, gave me a few pointers, and then said, “There’s nothing more I can do for you. You have to do it on your own now!” 

I was on the high school dance team, and in one of the dances I was in, there was some partner work but an odd number of dancers. I volunteered to be the odd man out and do a back handspring during that part of the dance. I thought if I committed to it, I would stick with it and finally reach my goal. 

Guess what!

I never did it. Not even once! I would stand there and psych myself out every time. I had no idea how to conquer my fear. 

So instead of doing back handsprings, I just slipped off stage for a second and then snuck back on. 

Easy peasy. No handspringy.

It was the same with back flips on the trampoline. I wanted to do them so bad, but I could never get over my fear. I would watch all my friends and cousins do back flips, and they would tell me that it wasn’t hard - they said back flips are actually easier than front flips because you can see the ground better. Yet, I never did it.

It might be one of my life’s greatest regrets. Should I try now? Heavens no! I have way more reasons to refrain from backflips nowadays. It's actually a relief to let go of the dream. I'm secure with my choice to keep my feet planted on the ground in my late thirties, thankyouverymuch. But I regret not doing it while I was young and spry. 

A few years ago, Nicky started asking me how to do back flips on the trampoline. My instructions were, “Don’t be afraid of them. I don't know what else to tell you." As a person who's never back flipped, I have no business coaching my son, so he watched some YouTube tutorials and became fixated on back flips. He asked his cousins for tips and watched them do flips. I watched him do exactly what I did - psych himself out over and over. 

The other day while we were picking raspberries at Scotty's mom's house, Nicky was jumping on the trampoline,* and suddenly we heard Eva celebrating, "Nicky did a backflip! Nicky did a backflip!"

In full disclosure, Nicky's actually doing a front 

flip in this photo, but we're cool, right?

He did it! And since I know how bad he's been wanting to do back flips for years, it was such a joyous moment. Now he back flips on the regular, and he's always asking me to take him to Grandma's house so he can practice. I know back flipping on a trampoline isn't that great of a triumph, and kids much younger than Nicky are already doing them, but as a mama and a person who never conquered her fear of doing one, I'm pretty proud!

*Have you ever seen a white trampoline? My in-laws bought the white mat a few years ago, and we thought it was the weirdest thing ever, but it's actually pretty fabulous. The store they bought it from said no one bought them, so they took them off the market.