When we were up at my aunt’s house last Sunday, my older son—a.k.a. The Boy Who Put The Car On The Porch—got it into his head that he wanted to jump into the creek.
Never mind that the thermometer hovered right around 30 degrees (if that).
Never mind that the creek was covered in a sheet of ice.
Never mind that he didn’t have his swimming trunks along.
Never mind that there was snow on the ground.
Never mind that it was cold.
HAVE I MENTIONED THAT IT WAS COLD???
While he changed into a pair of swimming trunks he had begged from a cousin, a bunch of the younger kids gathered at the creek to await the show.
One cousin set about breaking a hole in the ice with an ax.
When that went nowhere, a few of the guys helpfully chucked large rocks at the ice. At first the rocks just smacked into the ice and stuck.
But eventually the ice weakened and a hole formed.
IT WAS TIME.
My son slippy-slopped his way across the ice towards the hole.
He crouched.
He lowered his feet in and gasped loudly.
And then plunged in, all the way under.
As he heaved himself out of the water, we cheered and hollered, gleeful and toasty warm in our winter coats.
He didn’t waste one minute scrambling onto the bank and making a beeline up the hill to the house.
My older daughter took a video of the whole thing. On it you can hear me bellowing, “Go under! ALL THE WAY UNDER” because I am the sort of mother who believes if you are going to be stupid, you might as well go all out.
This same time, years previous: the quotidian (1.18.16), just do it, day one, quick fruit cobbler, snapshots, Julia’s chocolate almond cake, and five-minute bread.
6 Comments
Athanasia
Brrr. I could never do that, though there are plenty of folks in our area who belong to Polar Bear Clubs and every year jump into frozen over lakes on New Year's Day. Some charities use it as fund raisers too. He could have raised some money on this!
You can get bumper stickers that say Stupid SHOULD Hurt…I have seen them on the back of vehicles.
Ayrie Joyce
All that effort and he didn't even find the sword of Goderic Griffendor.
Lauralli
This is also the son who broke his back (& neck?)! Hmmm…..boys! Notice how it's always guys doing this sort of thing! I have three of my own and 4 brothers! Never a dull moment!
sk
Look at that beautiful, healed back.
Jennifer Jo
You're telling me! We've sure come a long way from this: http://bit.ly/2jtwzZ7
Second Sister
I bet he felt like a million bucks afterward! There are more than one way to get a high. Seriously. (An icy dunk like that is probably the closest I've ever come and it felt pretty great)