September Skills

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #29:

Skill

A couple of years ago, during my September Writing Challenge, Nicky figured out how to do backflips on the trampoline.  

He’d been wanting to do backflips for years but hadn’t mustered the courage (and as a wimp of a mother, I was fine with him playing it safe). When he finally figured it out, he was so proud of himself! I was pretty excited, too, because I got to witness him fulfilling a life-long dream, and as a bonus, he didn't break his neck.

Earlier this month, Nicky somehow gathered the guts to try a backflip on the ground - something he has wanted to learn how to do since mastering the backflip on the trampoline. He made his first few attempts while I wasn’t looking. Thank heavens - because I would have been a wreck! Then he tried a few times in front of me, and I nearly had a heart attack.

But then I saw him nail it!

As soon as he did it once, there was no stopping him. Once he got the hang of it, he assured me that he can feel what his body needs to do, and he knows how to catch himself if he's not going to land it precisely. I'm much more at ease now (but still... please don't break your neck, son! You are, after all, over six feet tall and nearly 200 pounds. I don't know how you get that much body to flip around).

The week after he learned how to do a backflip, he participated in a male cheer team. For homecoming week, our high school did a powder puff football game where the girls played football, and the boys cheered. When I showed up to the game, I was a little stunned to see my son in a girl's cheer uniform with a big bow in his hair (he had told me they were going to wear matching t-shirts, but no. They had about 40 boys in skirts). 

It was pretty funny to watch, and those boys cheered their hearts out for the entire game and performed a dance routine for the half-time show (none of them will ever question the athleticism of cheerleading after that experience).

I wondered if Nicky would try and sneak in some backflips out on the field, and when I saw him in his uniform, I thought, "Uh-oh! Will the skirt trip him up?" He isn't usually an attention hog, which I've always appreciated, but there have been a couple of times in his life where he has really thrived on the energy of crowd. This was one of them. 

I have to say... that was a really excellent backflip! Skirt and all!