“Do something everyday
that makes your hands sweat,” says Carolyn See. I love this quote. In theory. 
Actually I want to be totally safe and calm at all times; I don’t want
to lose my balance – inner or outer. But it was my weekly date with Emma, Axel
and Grace and when they begged me to get on the trampoline – “Babs, don’t be a
wimp!” they yelled  – I said okay.
And I did. The only trouble was that when I crawled out on what looked like a
big lake of black rubber I couldn’t stand up.  And here are these little kids, none of whom are over four
feet tall and they’re bouncing and flying up in the air like ping pong balls.
For a while I just lay there praying for the whole thing to end, but then Emma
said, “Babs, get up! This is not scary. I’ll hold your hand. We’ll take baby
steps.”  Very slowly I managed to
get to my feet, and then proceeded to inch across the trampoline in an upright
position with Emma holding my hand. Then she instructed me to stand in one spot
and to just to bounce a bit.  “It’s
okay if you fall down,” she said, and I thought my God she sounds just like me
teaching a writing class. And suddenly the whole trampoline thing felt like a
metaphor for writing. There’s no way to be anymore dignified on a big piece of
bouncing rubber than you are putting yourself on a piece of paper. After I
bounced a bit I started to get the hang of it and I began to jump. It was like
flying. If you let go of how you look doing this, and aren’t afraid of falling
on your face, it’s really fun. Kind of like writing.