My Empowerment

You probably know how I love to water ski.  Yeah -- I tend to gush over it.  But, let me give you a little history.  As children, my sister and I were not encouraged to participate in sports.  It's just not what little country girls did back then.  We were told to play outside.  We rode our bikes and flipped around doing gymnastics on a rusty swing set frame.  Unfortunately, I had horrible growing pains in my legs which earned me an excuse from PE class every year.  In fact, I did not participate in PE until I attended college.  An athlete, I was not.

Our family had a little river cabin on the banks of the Chattahoochee backwater.  It was here that my parents persuaded me to ski (bribed if truth be known).  If I had to guess, it's probably because the used boat my father had purchased came with a set of water skis.  My parents were not athletic, certainly not skiers, and obviously did not realize how strenuous it was.  It was not considered a sport but simply something my father loved to do with his girls.

A wonderful thing happened though.  Water skiing empowered me.  It was the only true challenging physical activity in my life.  I soon traded that set of skis for a single slalom ski and gained even more empowerment.   I learned to adore it and thanked my lucky stars for it.  You see, it gave a shy and awkward girl the confidence she sorely needed.   I could do something active!  And something pretty darned demanding!

All these years later, I still love it.  PoPo continues to support me and is my talented and willing boat driver.  I certainly couldn't do it without him!  I'm not professional by any means...far, far, far from it.  Heck, I've only attempted a slalom course several times in my life.  {A bucket list item is to attend ski school for a week.  Cool!}  But, I've got the endurance of a horse, can zip across the wake without pause, and can kick up a massive spray.  That makes me happy.  It empowers me.  Hmm...I guess on this Global Running Day it's fitting to admit those half marathons do a pretty good job of that as well!

What do you credit for your first sense of empowerment?

I'm linking up with Deb @ Deb Runs for the Wednesday Word.

Please visit Deb and the other participating bloggers.  It's fun!