back flips and black and blues

Saturday night, after many cocktails and little food, Maureen and I decided to begin a diving 'contest'.

There is a kick-ass diving board at my mom's pool which inspired us to be v. daring and crazy. I had forgotten that she once was a diver and she had forgotten the same about me. (I use the term v. lightly in reference to me).

We both pulled out our signature dives which were met with mad applause from my mother. Maureen then stepped up onto the board and did a back flip. I was immediately seized with envy and anxiety as I used to be able to do this fairly basic move, but had shelved it along with all other dives which I had categorized as 'risky' after I hit my head on the board about 20+ years ago.

Given my liquid courage, I was easily convinced by pal Maureen that I could indeed pull off this move so I stepped atop the board and got into position. I may have been a bit too confident because while I made it most of the way around, I didn't straighten my legs in time and so slapped my shins against the water.

Not wanting to quit in shame and feeling no pain, I dragged my ass out of the pool, receiving lots of encouragement from both Mom and Reen and got back on the 'horse' again.

While I cannot say exactly how many times I got back onto said horse, it's safe to say that I attempted this flip at least 10 times before once again retiring, citing exhaustion and a case of the munchies.

Fast forward to the next morning when I met mom and Maureen in the kitchen and they immediately called attention to my lower legs. Apparently, in my attempts at back flips, I had broken many, if not all of the blood vessels on the front of my legs and they were bruised blue and purple. Not pretty. (I took a photo, but it was such a sad representation of the true thing that I decided it was best to leave it to the imagination...)

** Those of you who know me know that I both bruise easily and am v. klutzy so this is not an unusual outcome, though I do believe the cause is a first **

Here is a photo of the instigator (Maureen) and I a few years ago: