Photo Courtesy:  This flickr photostream

Standing high above a precipice am I.  And the people below are chanting and calling my name- Jump, Jump they say.  A nagging feeling tugs at me like a string in my back attached to the oak tree a few feet behind me.  The string is saying no and my toes curl under with every sound uttered from their lips.  A rush of fear consumes my body as I peer over the edge at the water below.  But they look like they are having so much fun, bobbing buoys saying come on in… the water’s nice.  If I can just leap once, and then the free fall where there will be no turning back.  The only thing left at that point will be to anticipate the splash.  The submerge.  Of first the feet, and then the water as it climbs up my legs and tickles my abdomen, and the water climbs up to my neck and head and envelops every hair bursting from my scalp as the water overtakes me.  I did it.  I jumped.  When i float back to the surface and resurrect from the watery grave, there they are.  All their smiling, encouraging faces knowing i had one last act of bravery within my body.  We dog paddle around the lagoon with legs and arms in the cool clean water.  The drops of water roll off my arms back to whence it came.  One jump inspires another and another.  I can jump again.  The joy lies just beyond the fear.  Fear pulsating in my ears like a deafening voice can be quieted with just one calm step.  Jump they say.  Jump. Jump.  i wasn’t ready for the plunge.  But in that moment between terror and reckless abandon was a split second of sheer bravery.  So I seized it and ran.