The One at Big Lake

This was probably the 3rd scariest handstand I've ever done (I know you're sitting at the edges of your computer chairs waiting for the 1st and 2nd). And the fact that I have some handstands ranked as "scariest" is just downright... well, you know... scary.

So... we were driving from Colorado to Minnesota... I'm sure it was to visit family, as my mother grew up just west of the Cities. (And for all those non-Minnesotan readers... "the Cities" refers to Minneapolis-St. Paul. Avoid looking like a dork in front of a Minnesotan and just say "the Cities." You'll probably impress the beer right out of 'em.)

Moving on...

So we arrived in Big Lake, Minnesota. My grandmother grew up on this lake. My Great Aunt Sue still lives in the house, and this is their dock. I've spent many a summer hanging out here with family and friends... catching little fish and throwing them back. Swinging on the rope swing into the lake. (Well, *I* didn't swing into the lake, but you know... my brother and the older, braver kids did.)

We thought it would be really cool to get a photo of me on this dock. All was fun and games until I walked over there and realized that it's a lot smaller when you're getting ready to stand on your hands, and the thought of *if* I fell, I'd be wet... and probably injured and humiliated. But hey, we'd have it all on camera for your viewing pleasure! Tee hee hee.

Too bad for you (lucky for me), you do *not* get to see me sopping wet, crying and crawling out of the water. I've never fallen out of a handstand, after 12 years of prolonged handstand holding (okay, there was that ONE time in my friend's living room, but really... when you have two toddlers running toward you and parents screaming that you're going to fall onto their VCR, you'd fall too! And that VCR... very unforgiving. I'm still claiming that I did not *actually* fall. I was walking on my hands, and I ran into their entertainment center. I don't have eyes on my feet, you know!

Anywho, what you *do* get to see is a pretty awesome handstand that even shows a smidgen of a calf muscle on my left leg. I wasn't blessed with muscles in the leg area. Arm muscles? Now, those... you'd be surprised at the guns on this petite frame. But legs? Notsomuch. So this picture boosts my self-esteem like I just won the Olympics!