Silkworm
I think that I am beginning to understand the silks. Pay no attention to the blisters on my palms, the circular bruises on my ankles, the abrasions across the tops of my feet - those are the marks of all my false starts. In you are in an aerials class with me, just ignore all those times I fell on my ass, legs spread wide, and went "Tah dah!" like a child, and the high-pitched squeaking noise I make when the fabric accidentally forms a tightening tourniqet around my foot, and my habit of flailing around like a dead fish when I run out of energy before the end of a trick. After studying the silks for five (I think it's been five - it's hard to keep track) months, I think I've reached the point where I understand how it all hangs (this is not a pun - look away from the pun) together.
It takes a while to build up strength. One week, you notice that your grip doesn't give out and your forearms don't feel like they're on fire. One week, you've built up enough callouses on your palms that your skin doesn't rip off on the trapeze bar. One week, you figure out how to hang by your ankles without feeling as if you're about to die. One week, you can magically pull yourself up using only the strength in your arms. This week, I hung from one ankle with one arm wrapped around the silks while my teacher spent what felt like hours explaining, step by step, some unbearably complex horizontal descent/waist wrap - and then I proceeded to do it.
I'm not going to kid myself - I'm still a long way from becoming a secret agent/circus star - but I'm closer today than I was last Sunday. Just wait till you see what I can do next week.
It takes a while to build up strength. One week, you notice that your grip doesn't give out and your forearms don't feel like they're on fire. One week, you've built up enough callouses on your palms that your skin doesn't rip off on the trapeze bar. One week, you figure out how to hang by your ankles without feeling as if you're about to die. One week, you can magically pull yourself up using only the strength in your arms. This week, I hung from one ankle with one arm wrapped around the silks while my teacher spent what felt like hours explaining, step by step, some unbearably complex horizontal descent/waist wrap - and then I proceeded to do it.
I'm not going to kid myself - I'm still a long way from becoming a secret agent/circus star - but I'm closer today than I was last Sunday. Just wait till you see what I can do next week.