puberty. Let go and take the plunge together! Paragliding. When are you still a boy today and when a man? In the past, the period of service was still there as a kind of limit. Or when you left school and started working for a chef and started taking care of the income of the family at a younger age. One thing is certain. Since my oldest son is in high school, I matter less as a mother. Formerly adored. Now I can barely breathe when friends are around. Well… very healthy when your mother gets stupider.
“Well….. sometimes I am pretended to be a child and sometimes they already expect huge adult things from us” shouts my wise 15-year-old teenager. We are in Austria for a week. A week before, I wrote down as a wish that I finally want to go paragliding this summer. In the Tyrolean town of Lermoos we suddenly see them floating above us on the first best day.
To do! is my feeling. But the week is full. I'm on a reserve list. I get a call the day before we leave. There is room the next morning. And somehow magically not just for me. For two! ah…. My mother's heart immediately thinks. A wonderful reason to let this am-I-now-a-child-or-already-all-guy take his plunge. I invite him to join my bucket list wish. Pooh…. That does something to your thoughts and feelings. After much deliberation, weighing, puffing and dubbing, his redeeming answer comes. “Mom! I go for it. We're going to jump together!"
The next day we are waiting at the bottom of the green valley. The paragliders gracefully fly down and land in front of us. It's really going to happen. Go up and jump together. But it is letting go. For him and me. Totally appropriate. I am already taken into the gondola by 3 outdoor sportsmen. Daan is waiting in the valley for a female colleague. Speaking German and still have to arrange money for the gondola. Up with strangers and really take the plunge alone. Because of your mother's silly idea.
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At the top I secretly investigate whether he is coming too. How would he feel? Would he go? But no time to think. Action! Another long climb up the mountain top with the heavy backpack on my back. Everything is unpacked and prepared at the top. Focus. Before I know it, I'm hanging on to the instructor. Look ahead. Run …. Run… and go. Relying on the wind and the environment. Here we go. Talk about letting go and taking the plunge. It gives me enormous peace and relaxation to hang up there. It may take hours. The view, the wind passing you, the valley and letting it go.
Once at the bottom of the valley I see my son come floating after a while. What a cool experience for us together. Already a golden memory. “Mom it felt like flying, a roller coaster and a 3D movie all rolled into one.” He proudly approaches with a helmet under his arm!
You took the plunge boy. We together. In this puberty. Let go for both. Because you can determine your own course. Because I am your mother. Your father is becoming more important now. I trust that! Whether you sometimes still feel like a boy and sometimes already a man. This memory of your jump is in your backpack! Gift from me right now.
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