Letting Go

My son is a freestyle skier.  He competed provincially last year.  In order to do aerials in competition, he has to qualify first on water ramp, then on snow.  This past weekend was my first exposure to water ramp. 

I drove him and his best friend to Red Deer (even though I was working on a publishing deadline and couldn't really afford the time, I still want to give him everything I can).  As we meandered along the riverside road, these monoliths came into view.  My heart rocketed to my throat, bounced off and landed like a boulder in the pit of my stomach.

He was so excited I couldn't say a word.  This is what he wants, this is what he loves. The adrenaline was pumping for us both - for two very different reasons.  As I left him there, I thought I should memorialize the location, just in case he did bite the big one.

In case you can't quite get the perspective on how high and steep these ramps are, see if you can spot the people standing on the dock just to the left of the jumps.  Or the cars on the road.  Yeah. My boy skied that.  And he front flipped from them too.

He's back home.  Happy.

That makes two of us.