Waterskiing May 4, 2010

When the air temperatures are in the range of 70 degrees and it's sunny, we go water skiing. There is nothing that replaces it in our lives; when we are no longer able to do it, I'm sure that will be hard on us emotionally.

The physical challenge, the rush of the water, the joy of boating with the kids, the excitement and the peace of the lake - we have been water skiing since we were teenagers at Jaycee and Rend Lake in Illinois, and we have worked our lives to be set up for it in Indiana.

One has to do what one loves, and be where one needs to be, to live a satisfying life. Life is too short to put things off. This doesn't mean it's all play. Life is a practice, a discipline. Exercising to be in shape to ski. Eating the right foods. Working, to be able to afford the sport and sleeping to rejuvenate for this life and it. Respect and reverence for that which is greater than one and what made one. And balance in all things - time off to laugh, to go for walks, to fish, to write poetry. He works a lot, but my husband likes time to care for his trees and do projects with tools and tractors. The kids need free time to play with friends and jump on the trampoline. I try to envision a simple life that sloughs off the extra stuff so we have time to live.

Water skiing - I can be nervous before I do it, and transformed when I hit the cold water, and sore while I'm doing it, and yet by the next day I feel five or ten years younger. My arms feel strong and I am relaxed and have a better attitude. This is after doing it enough, to no longer have the aching soreness one has when a person is out of condition. Even weightlifting does not give me this kind of rewarding body rush, and I have to lift much longer to get the same effect.

Paul is working on 32' and 35' shortened off the 75' rope tonight - it's very early in the season so he's doing pretty good for barely May. Paul has competed in the amateur nationals, which are usually in West Palm Beach Florida or California, and he's a very solid player in the state and region. I think it was 2003 when he won his men's division of the regional tournament which was held at the DuQuoin, Illinois Fairgrounds that year - a lot of fun for the family to see. I also skied in the regionals there that year - I had lousy conditions that morning (wind) and didn't place highly.

I did win second place in my women's division of the Indiana state slalom championship last year, and I hope to be ready to compete in my next Indiana prep tournament in June or July.

So even though I'm not in condition after winter hiatus to be running passes around the slalom buoys, I'm out there in my drysuit working up for it. My biggest challenge at the moment is my right hip, which has some arthritis, and some pain in my lower back; the pain sometimes moves around or causes nerve issues somewhere else. Hey, I'm blessed to be in as good of shape as I am, especially considering the punishment the ol' bod has been beaten with over the years. Ballet and other forms of dance through college and beyond, running, not always eating well - to be able to ski at all is fantastic. And folks, it is definitely use it or lose it. When I don't do anything it goes downhill so fast it's not even funny.

And it's never too late. My in-laws exercise now, my mother in her mid 80's - when she started going to Curves, even at that age, in a few weeks her body was straighter, she was stronger - folks, exercise is life. We are a physical machine and we must not let our minds tell us that we don't have to exercise. We do.

I like driving the boat for Paul, or driving anyone - and I'd much rather do that than sit backwards and look at the skier. Driving in any situation also helps me avoid motion sickness. But it takes precision to give a tournament skier a good pull; not letting him or her pull the boat out of alignment down the course, etc. It's fun and I guess I inherited the pilot genes.

It was a nice ski, but the sun nearly blinded me when it was lowering in the west and caused a paralyzing glare, as I had to drive facing into it during part of Paul's run. The red wing blackbirds sang and socialized around us, and the muskrats, our bane on the lake (they can compromise the dam) stayed out of sight. Now that summer is on the horizon, I'll be writing about water skiing more in the next few weeks and months. Stayed tuned to this channel, and thanks for listening.