I grew up going to a lake in west-central Pennsylvania every other weekend and usually for a week at the end of the summer. While I spent a lot of time just sort of floating around on my parents’ boat, I also enjoyed tubing, jet skiing and water skiing. By the time I was a teenager, water skiing became something I just did once a year to prove that I could because it had honestly lost its luster. My vision is horrible, and without my hard contacts that I had to take out before getting in the water to ski, the people on the boat looked like blurs of color. Imagine flying behind a boat holding onto a rope and unable to see anything in that boat be it the people in charge of your safety or even the other boats coming toward you. So needless to say, I hung up my skis except for that one run a year.
The prove-I-can-do-this run disappeared when I began having kids and suffered with hyperemesis gravidarum. Even after I had both kids and the sickness went away, my body felt weak compared to what it once was. I wasn’t sure that I would ever build back that muscle tone, and the weight that I put on top of my already damaged body certainly didn’t help. This summer I feel stronger than I have in many, many years thanks to Mamavation. I decided to try to ski again (back in 1999 I switched to disposable contacts so I could see this time!) for the first time since having kids. I managed to pop right up and while I’m told it didn’t look very graceful, I even went out over the wake without falling. I can work on style next year. Thank you, Mamavation!
