Conquering? Confronting? I’m going to let myself fall, bounce, return to thirty+ feet off the ground?

I hate heights; I suppose I always have, but they really started to bother me while on the tallest tower at Warwick Castle (I was newly ten). From that day forward, I have done my very best to avoid heights of any sort.

For some reason, last Saturday I decided that the giant bungee jump and trampoline my neighbors rented for a party looked like fun. Why on earth did I think that? I abandoned my face painting post to stand in line for nearly an hour, just so I could bounce thirty feet up and come hurtling back to earth, just to repeat it.

Finally, it was my turn. I strapped into the harness, and from there was attached to bungee cords. I began to rise off of the trampoline; I jumped. I went higher. I jumped again.

My body longed to be airborn. My heartbeat quickened, but it wasn’t out of fear. With each bounce I gained altitude. I felt alive.

Fear creeped back into me as my friends called, “Do a backflip!”

My hot dog and cotton candy lunch protested. I knew that if I saw the ground coming at the wrong angle I’d be ill, and it would erase all of the progress I had made.

When my bouncing time came to an end, I remained elated. Nothing could sink the soaring thrill I still felt.

This experience will come in handy in my WIP.