2011
My friend stands behind, nervous. I know he’s nervous because he keeps asking me to be careful and not slip and maybe it’s time climb off the edge of the cliff and back to safety.
Instead I tell him to take a picture of my feet dangling in the air.
Me? Get off the ledge? The edge? But why? It’s nice here. The view is beautiful.
He says the view is just as spectacular from back there. And, I think how would you know? But then, how would I know if I didn’t at least shuffle back, crawl up and gaze at the view from his perspective. Which I did. And he was right.
How was he right though? How did he know without doing it first? Is this a common sense thing that I lack? Or if I don’t lack it, than what is this deep seated drive to experience everything first hand? So many times fear is a very late second to, “Oh, what’s that?!”
2004
Eventually we take a tourist break before I throw up in Aunt Becky’s car.
Immediately I dart from the car up this grassy knoll, over the train tracks and flee across a flat sandy surface. I have no destination in mind except freedom and fresh air.
I look up and I’m astounded! A brilliant orange mountain faces me! It's surrounded by a deep blue sky and I’m wasting no time getting there.
I should’ve paid attention. Heck I should’ve just looked down! By the time I did, it was too late.
I remember slipping backwards, trying to catch myself, grabbing at rocks and sand but they just ripped at my body. Finally I stopped fighting it and rolled with the tumble. Landing with a thud as a dust cloud rose over my still body.
I gazed up in awe and confusion. And there it was again, my orange mountain and deep blue sky. Excellent view but where the heck was I?!
I quickly sat up and saw I was in a hole the length and width of a football field, THAT WAS 20 FEET DEEP! A mine! It was freaking mine. I fell into a mining hole.
There are sunken tires and mining carts and other broken equipment half buried and lying around.
“How did you get down there?” asked Aunt Becky.
“I fell.”
Jessica laughs and says, “Silly girl.”
Aunt Becky on the other hand is full of questions. “How did you fall into a mine?! How did you not see it? Were you not looking?”
“Well, watch out for dynamite,” Aunt Becky bluntly states.
1999
So I yell one more time with feeling, “Hold my legs!”
I should mention that by this point I have crawled on top of this cement foundation/barrier and am already leaning back with only one heel wedged against the wall to hold me steady. If my heel lost its hold I'd be falling headfirst and backwards into Lake Superior.
Suffice it to say, he held my legs though he probably should've just dumped me in the water.
I’m working at the 4th Floor of the Mall of America. I’ve been there for 5 years and for 5 of those years I have deeply pondered something…if I was held by my legs off the edge of the parking ramp would I be able to see into the next ramp level?
Now, this ponder was actually a long standing deliberation between me and many co-workers. Is it possible?
There are many, many more stories that start and end with “HOLD MY LEGS!” or I fell into a large hole. In fact, there is a story of a 4-Wheeler, large brush and an off-roading incident that I will save for a later post.
Maybe there is no common sense rolling around this noggin or maybe I’m just too filled with the now to think about the later.
I should marry an insurance assessor. But they would probably assess that I am too much a liability and write a “too dangerous to deal with” clause into the prenuptial.
No matter the time or place it’s never a dull moment in life with Nerissa. So I've been told.
I’m sitting on the edge of the world. My feet hanging, kicking rocks down into the vast canyon labeled Grand. And that it is, a Grand Canyon.
My friend stands behind, nervous. I know he’s nervous because he keeps asking me to be careful and not slip and maybe it’s time climb off the edge of the cliff and back to safety.
Instead I tell him to take a picture of my feet dangling in the air.
Me? Get off the ledge? The edge? But why? It’s nice here. The view is beautiful.
He says the view is just as spectacular from back there. And, I think how would you know? But then, how would I know if I didn’t at least shuffle back, crawl up and gaze at the view from his perspective. Which I did. And he was right.
How was he right though? How did he know without doing it first? Is this a common sense thing that I lack? Or if I don’t lack it, than what is this deep seated drive to experience everything first hand? So many times fear is a very late second to, “Oh, what’s that?!”
2004
We are in a car driving back from Tahoe. It’s a long, bumpy, over the mountain and through the woods trip, and I’m a groaning, hurting, carsick freak.
Eventually we take a tourist break before I throw up in Aunt Becky’s car.
Immediately I dart from the car up this grassy knoll, over the train tracks and flee across a flat sandy surface. I have no destination in mind except freedom and fresh air.
I look up and I’m astounded! A brilliant orange mountain faces me! It's surrounded by a deep blue sky and I’m wasting no time getting there.
I should’ve paid attention. Heck I should’ve just looked down! By the time I did, it was too late.
I remember slipping backwards, trying to catch myself, grabbing at rocks and sand but they just ripped at my body. Finally I stopped fighting it and rolled with the tumble. Landing with a thud as a dust cloud rose over my still body.
I gazed up in awe and confusion. And there it was again, my orange mountain and deep blue sky. Excellent view but where the heck was I?!
I quickly sat up and saw I was in a hole the length and width of a football field, THAT WAS 20 FEET DEEP! A mine! It was freaking mine. I fell into a mining hole.
There are sunken tires and mining carts and other broken equipment half buried and lying around.
I hear noises from above as Jessica and Aunt Becky appear. Imagine their surprise at seeing my dust covered body lying at the bottom of this hole.
“How did you get down there?” asked Aunt Becky.
“I fell.”
Jessica laughs and says, “Silly girl.”
Aunt Becky on the other hand is full of questions. “How did you fall into a mine?! How did you not see it? Were you not looking?”
“Well in fact, I wasn’t looking for a mine. I was just running towards the mountain. And since I’m not from mining country it never occurred to me that there could be a giant hole or drop off and you know what, never mind. I have no good answer except that I was looking up which is a direct correlation of An Affair to Remember and we all know what happened to her.”
1999
“Hold my legs!” I yell to J.J. He looks scared. So I yell again, “Hold my legs! Please.”
Believe me, if he held my legs so I could lean farther over the cement barrier of this lighthouse I could get the exact angle needed to achieve the astounding photograph that is already visually burned into my mental folds.
So I yell one more time with feeling, “Hold my legs!”
I should mention that by this point I have crawled on top of this cement foundation/barrier and am already leaning back with only one heel wedged against the wall to hold me steady. If my heel lost its hold I'd be falling headfirst and backwards into Lake Superior.
Suffice it to say, he held my legs though he probably should've just dumped me in the water.
2005
I’m working at the 4th Floor of the Mall of America. I’ve been there for 5 years and for 5 of those years I have deeply pondered something…if I was held by my legs off the edge of the parking ramp would I be able to see into the next ramp level?
Now, this ponder was actually a long standing deliberation between me and many co-workers. Is it possible?
It would be best at this point, to not tell the rest of the story I fear. In fact, just know that I’m safe and can guarantee that I will not ever let someone dangle me over a parking ramp without a rope or any safety measure again…and no you can not see into the next ramp level.
There are many, many more stories that start and end with “HOLD MY LEGS!” or I fell into a large hole. In fact, there is a story of a 4-Wheeler, large brush and an off-roading incident that I will save for a later post.
Maybe there is no common sense rolling around this noggin or maybe I’m just too filled with the now to think about the later.
I should marry an insurance assessor. But they would probably assess that I am too much a liability and write a “too dangerous to deal with” clause into the prenuptial.
Either way I can’t change the very foundation of who I am, I can only hope those who love me can deal with where it leads me, as well as themselves and most of all are strong enough to "HOLD MY LEGS" or tell me that is the stupidest idea they have ever heard of. Sometimes I just need to hear that.
No matter the time or place it’s never a dull moment in life with Nerissa. So I've been told.
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