the trampoline story.

In December of 2008, Finn and I had just gotten back together after 6 months of being broken up. (His mistake, we like to say). At the time my sister was dating a wonderful man named Matthew, who is now her husband (and who is still wonderful). This Matthew happened to be one of Finn's friends so the four of us got together one Saturday and visited Matthew's family in eastern North Carolina. We eventually made our way outside to the trampoline, for who among us can resist a trampoline? 

Pertinent Background Information: Finn grew up on a trampoline. He was a diver from the age of 5, did gymnastics, and he and all his siblings grew up practicing back doubles on a trampoline in their back yard. To this day, he is one of the flippiest humans I know. He can do all sorts of twists and turns in the air and, as far as I can tell, has no fear of heights. 

Examples of him being generally impressive:

The main point to take away from this (besides the fact he's a total babe) is that he's got excellent balance and, like most people with a background in diving or gymnastics, has great body control even in the air.

Returning to the Story: we head outside to the trampoline and the boys jump by themselves for a bit while Robin and I watched and chatted. After a few minutes, I hopped up to join the fun and shortly thereafter was double-bounced the highest I've ever been launched thanks to the combined efforts of both boys. It was a harmless move and I think Finn generously assumed I could control myself in the air as well as he.

This was not the case and I basically went TOTALLY limp. My trampoline debut was not successful, dear friends. Rather, I demonstrated the amount of acrobatic ability Finn had as a 14 month old. Luckily for you all, Matthew's sister was standing nearby with a camera and captured my egregious lack of airborne athleticism. 

Here is the photo she took just before my unfortunate landing...

As you can surmise from the picture, I landed right on my neck but I think my huge hair and vest must have cushioned the fall. It was painful, but certainly less than it could have been. Let it be known that both boys showed great concern and were very sweet. This snapshot and the incredible disparity between our trampoline skills never fails to make us laugh. I love to joke with Finn that this was "the moment he knew". As he saw me falling like a dead fish, his heart soared and he all at once realized "now that is my wife". 

. . .