The Swinging Trap-eek!

A week ago, my friend John decided to bring his best gal Georgina and I along to his trapeze class. Being incredibly afraid of heights and amusement park rides (I'm always the one who holds people's coats on the ground), I decided it was a great idea to check out this trapeze thing. I was pretty sure I'd just be watching the class. We arrived at the gymnasium where they have the circus training and got our harnesses on. I looked up 15 feet into the air and realized that there's no way I was going to be doing anything on that flimsy little swing.

Georgina and I had near panic attacks as John the brave ascended the rope to the swing, flipped himself around and hung from his knees. It got worse from there as he did all sorts of insane arial tricks, some of which ended in him swinging merely from his ankles. At this point Georgina and I argued over who was more scared and whose palms were sweatier.

To prevent us freaking out too much, the teacher led us to some lower swings where we got a chance to practice swinging our feet around to hang upside down by our knees - a necessary step to get oneself sitting on the swing. I wasn't at all convinced that I even wanted to be sitting on said swing but I was willing to go along with it. When the vertigo hit as I went through the paces on the low swing, I had a pretty clear indication of what was ahead for me.

We returned to the high trapeze where Georgina bravely climbed the rope and hung from the swing. She was totally freaked but managed to try valiantly but unsucessfully to get her feet around. When it was my turn, I was all pounding heart and shakes. I climbed the rope and hung from the bar. At this point my hands couldn't shake anymore so my one leg did. I felt like an old dog with a twitch. "Swing your legs," the instructor called from the distant ground. I managed to move them a couple inches in front of my body before I realized there was no freaking way I was going to be able to get myself into an upside down position at this height.

They kept assuring me I was safe, and I believed them. I had no problem letting go of the trapeze so that they could support me on the way down. It wasn't a case of being worried that I'd fall. I was simply near-paralyzed with fear. A strange sensation to say the least. I just couldn't override my body's response of sheer terror. I tried a couple times but it ended with the score of swinging trapeze 2: Kate 0.

When I was on steady ground again my legs nearly buckled with the shakes. I think the instructor felt bad for us so they let us play with the bungies, which were much less terrifying, though not entirely un-terrifying. You may have seen these at the PNE or other fairs where they hook you in to bounce for a few minutes. This was much more my speed although when they suggested I do a back-flip, "no freaking way!" was my response. Maybe next time. Maybe not.