Patapalooza-2007 August 5, 2007
Posted by spacemom in : Life...otherwise, Nance , 1 comment so farWe just returned from Maine, Patapalooza, 2007. We go to Long Lake to our friend Pat’s parent’s house (vacation house). There are now 6 children who attend, all girls. I was "vigilant" this year , our code word for paranoid after what happened Thursday night. I was still in tears driving up on Friday as Jay and I discussed the tragedy. It was pretty odd because Jimmy, our friend, has gone swimming with 3 other people from work. The other three are married, two with kids. Jimmy is, was, single. Sorry, hard to use past tense. We were grateful that no one else was killed. But so sad that Jimmy died. It was his sailboat that they went out in. He was the guy who went out often and invited us from work to come out.
I required the girls to wear life jackets in the water. Period, end of sentence. I could care less if they were up to their ankles, I couldn’t get Jimmy’s face out of my head all weekend. At one point, the girls went tubing. Yes, I let the girls (5 & 3) go on a tube (with an adult, one kid at a time) and get dragged behind a speedboat. Soleil loved it! I took movies on shore (I was awake during this time, I slept a bit this weekend, and at not point was I hyperventilating… I was concerned enough that before they went out, I had both girls practice falling off the tube and floating on their backs in the water so they would know what to do.
It was…surreal to me to allow them to go out on the lake, while thinking of Jimmy. I did my best to not allow death prevent us from living. But man, is it hard. I wanted to snuggle the girls and not let them near the lake. But… I can’t hold them close to me forever. I have to let them learn and have wings. But it is hard to let them go…
