I Believe in Trampolines

I believe in flying as high as you can, as powerfully as you can, in the best way that you can. I believe that trampolines let you reach as high as you want without the fear of getting hurt. They let you flip and twist to your heart’s content, each time getting better and better. If the earth was made of the same stretchy canvas as a trampoline, wouldn’t more people be able to “reach for the stars” and actually get closer to them?

When I was about six or seven, my best friend, Mary, moved into a new house around the corner from me with a really big backyard. For her birthday, her parents got the family a huge trampoline. It was the first time I’d ever seen a trampoline of that size, let alone been on one. At first I was a little scared, not knowing how high I could go, or wanted to go. But then her dad got on with us and I learned something called the “double bounce”. I remember laughing so hard and my tummy doing flips as Mary and I went soaring above the safety net that circled the trampoline. Since then, I have never been afraid of reaching new heights.

I soon began to learn all the different things I could do on a trampoline. Mary’s sister had recently made the cheerleading squad at her school as a base. She recruited Mary and I to be the fliers so she could practice stunts. I learned how to flip off her hands and how to “stick it” (very hard to do on the unstable trampoline), and my personal favorite, getting launched into the air as she bounced on the balls of he feet.

I realized how being creative on a trampoline often got you higher than just jumping straight up and down. Twisting and spinning felt like you were truly flying, leaving you dizzy as you stepped onto solid ground. The other thing that got you higher on the tramp was jumping with someone. Two or three people, I found, got everyone farther than just one person alone. Holding hands as one person went up and the other went down was the best way, other than double bouncing. It’s like a lever or see-saw effect; as the person who’s “down” starts to jump, the person who’s “up” is pulled down faster, which makes the other person go up faster. The cycle is never ending, but as it keeps going, both people go higher and higher, faster and faster.

Who would have thought that all theses life lessons could be hiding in my best friend’s backyard disguised as bouncy fun? Trampolines allow you to, literally, reach for the stars, and help you learn that using creativity, trying new things, and doing it with others always gets you higher. This I believe.