Number 3 on the YLOO list was “High Dive.” This was a bit tricky to coordinate as there aren’t many pools with high dives left in the city. We attempted to go the the WSU campus and use the Heskett Center, but something about “needing to be staff or a student” stood in our way. Thankfully, Orchard Park Pool stays open until 6PM and they have a 3 meter high dive.

This pool is in my childhood neighborhood. I learned to swim in that pool during summer swimming lessons. I learned to dive along the wall in that deep end. My first high dive was in that pool. So, it seemed fitting once more to return to a site of my memories for Judah to make his first memory.

Judah is often a bit timid when it comes to taking risks. He hates to ride his bike down hills for fear that he’ll lose control and crash. So when we got to the pool and he was saying, “can I go first?!,” we were shocked. Like a champ he climbed the ladder and took the plunge. We were really proud of him. As a rule of the list everyone had to participate, so Kenton and I took our respective turns too.

I think the last high dive I was on was in the 5th grade. I’ve since grown and seem to hit the water with a bit more force these days. Oh, and my swimsuit seems to ride up a bit more upon impact at age 30 versus 10.

Kenton was caught off guard by how much his 30 year-old weight caused that spring board to react. His jump was the funniest of the day, for sure.

 

We had a great time acting like little kids, especially the little kid, he had a blast. He said, “The second time is scarier, because the first time I didn’t know what I was in for, it’s kind of scary.”

As we were reliving the experience with Kenton’s mom and we told her what pool we did the jumps at she said, “Oh, yeah, Orchard Park. Kenton, I took you there for swimming lessons in the summer when you were little.” My eyes got big and my mouth dropped. Maybe just maybe little Kenton and little Lacy met in swimming lessons back in the 80′s. I’m going to believe they did and then 25 years later they brought their little boy there to do his first high dive. Yep, that’s a good story.

We had another planning session at lunch today and this list is getting bigger and better. Have you started yours yet?