Daredevil Poetry in Motion

Sacha

I sat my baby on the living room stool, in the lace baptismal gown, that my Belle Mere told me her children wore. I believed her, though I haven't seen a photo of any of her children in it.
Sacha was six months old.
Chelsea was three.
French Husband did not have a single grey hair.
And I wondered what my baby boy would be like when he grew up? Would a lace dress make him more an artist than the strong DNA code running in our families for daredevils?

That was nearly 18 years ago.

This is to say that this morning at breakfast while tearing off the end of the baguette and foregoing the burnt cherry jam, I looked at the boy sitting across from me. He was studying for his BAC (graduation finals) I asked him what gift he wanted when he graduated.

Without looking up from his text, he said, "Bungee jump."

I should have read more poetry to that child.



Comments

37 responses to “Daredevil Poetry in Motion”

  1. Oh you poor soul! At least my oldest took the jump in Greece, during her Eurorail trip after her high school graduation. She assured me she would never in her life repeat that feat. Very comforting. If there were not the news that my son has parachuted from an airplane, not telling me beforehand lest I faint. 😉
    Good luck to your big baby boy! I am sure his accumulated experience will keep him safe. I still remember that backward salto.

  2. Best of luck, Sacha!
    My daughter has just finished writing her International Bac and flown off on her own to the other end of the world (South Africa – though no bungee jumping I hope), so this post brought tears to my eyes with that poignant baby picture. Hope you find more uses for the burnt cherry jam!

  3. Linda C.

    Corey, your off-spring seem to like jumping off things that are very far from the ground. Your children, like mine, have not inherited their mothers’ fear of heights…Lucky Little Ducks.

  4. Weehah! He’ll love it! South Africa has the highest commercial bungee jump in the world – it’s official. At 216 metres, it’s not for the faint of heart.
    The jump is run by Face Adrenalin, at the Bloukrans Bridge on the border of the Eastern and Western Cape.
    PS Please tell Karen her daugter is very welcome to contact us when visiting SA!!

  5. But you wouldn’t change a thing, would you? Can you imagine him any other way?

  6. Bungee jumping????
    I think my dad will be relieved to know that my graduation request was something much safe: a new laptop! 😀
    I also just graduated, from university, last Saturday. 🙂

  7. Bungee jumping????
    I think my dad will be relieved to know that my graduation request was something much safe: a new laptop! 😀
    I also just graduated, from university, last Saturday. 🙂

  8. I love you
    Congratulations to your Son♥

  9. Perhaps he has both…love for adventure and a poet’s soul. You and FH have both.
    I always enjoy your post.

  10. Cynthia Rieth

    At least he will be attached to something! My 16 year old daughter wants me to jump out of an airplane for my 50th!

  11. I’m sure you and Yann are so proud! This is just the beginning of his daredevil adventures! Maybe he will tell you after his adventures instead of before. Keeps us mothers from worrying so much.

  12. Natalie Thiele

    What else can you expect when their father, uncles, and grandfather have such an urge to live dangerously? Didn’t Chelsea bungee jump when she was 18, also?

  13. Ha – that last line just has me in stitches. I’m not sure more poetry would have helped with that Sacha. Of course, not being his mother, and having only one daughter who is a bookworm and won’t even ride a bike at 24 years old, I find it all very exciting.
    Best Wishes to Sacha for his exams!

  14. He has his father’s spirit, but his heart and soul come from both of you.

  15. Mmd. Tortoise

    Bonne Fete, to Sacha…
    Upon hearing of his birthday wish all I could think about was …. good thing I did not have children for I fear I would have kept them locked up until age 40……

  16. Good luck Sacha wiht both exams and bungee jump!
    Our 12 yr old son has inherited all my cautiousness. It is our youngest daughter who is the speed queen and daredevil – don’t know where she got those genes.

  17. This doesn’t surprise me (and I doubt it surprises you either). Now, Chelsea… She surprised me when she said she wanted to go skydiving (wasn’t it?).
    Hug him and love him and know that he’ll be fine, just as FH has been through all his adventures.
    Good luck with your exam, Sacha!

  18. When my son moved to his first Toronto apt., and I was visiting for the first time, I rang the bell and a woman who was having a cigarette outside the front door smiled…I said I was waiting for my son….she looked up the stairs, telling me it looked like someone was coming down the stairs adn asked if he had red hair….I told her he did, and that he was three years old. She hesitated like I was delusional, then smiled broadly…and yes, I guess I am delusional.

  19. Congrats Sacha
    To a new chapter in your life. The jump is poetic. A leap of faith and the start of a new exciting chapter. May your life always be full and exciting. Live it to it’s fullest. I have a feeling this won’t be a stretch for you. and “if you have a chance I hope you’ll dance”
    Gongrats Cori and FH
    On a job well done.

  20. Oh, how I chuckled with your last line. I have said often of late that I raised our girls and wanted them to be independent women – on the next block. One is four hundred miles away and both have careers I would never have dreamed of – and, yes, I would not have it any other way.
    Many more.

  21. That photo of your baby has always attracted my attention – so beautiful. Lovely, lovely baby.
    Good luck with the bungee jumping. I just can’t imagine doing something like that!!!!

  22. Your Sacha baby photo is BEAUTIFUL…
    and your last line hilarious. Thank you for the touch of beauty and humor. And a touch of fear! this morning! ~ Violet

  23. Ah the differences in families. My nearly 4 year old son is not much of a risk taker physically. He prefers movies and drawing to riding his tricycle.
    I think if he asked me to Bungee Jump for graduation I would have the tickets to New Zealand booked before he finished his morning coffee.
    Lovely photo of your son. Some of my most treasured photos of my children are the ones I took myself.

  24. I have a great idea. I know of a wonderful place where you can bungee jump, paraglide, swing out over a 300 ft. canyon on a rope swing, shoot the whitewater rapids in a rubber boat, visit a sheep station and watch the dogs work the sheep all within 10 miles of each event. The Lord of the Rings was filmed there. It is Queenstown, New Zealand. Our family has a two vacation rental houses there. They are very beautiful. Just type http://www.dejavu.co.nz to see the photos. You will love it.
    Also for antique airplane afficionados every other year there is an event called Wings over Wanaka when many beautiful airplanes come to an air festival. Wanaka is about 25 miles from Queenstown.
    Just remember that their winter is our summer. It is very south of the equator.

  25. Giggling. My kids inherited their father’s daredevilism. I am a wimp from way back. As is most of my side of the family. Perhaps more than the possibility of their daredevilishness killing THEM, my neurotic worrying will kill ME first! And my grandson (age 2) seems to have inherited THEIR gene. God help me.

  26. Good thing they bounce back 🙂 They grow up soo fast don’t they!

  27. Marie Amaro

    Haha! That’s very funny Coco! Bunjee jumping seems scary to me!

  28. Sounds like Sasha inherited the dare-devil gene for sure.

  29. I think that bungee jumping seems safer than doing some of those bmx tricks…good luck corey and sascha!!!

  30. You make me smile! My son graduated Sunday from High School…..I can relate! : D

  31. This is such an intriguing picture. It seems as though it could have been from decades ago! It’s amazing the way time flies. Your son, as you know has a mind of his own… Good luck!!

  32. Greetings from New Zealand, home of the Bungee Jump!
    So glad Sacha wants to do this and I can definitely recommend that you bring him and the rest of the family to visit the South Island of New Zealand, where I live and where he can do any number of adventure activities. I have just had a holiday in the area where the bungee started…near Queenstown and I was there as the leaves were starting to fall in their glorious autumn hues…..very dramatic against our bright blue skies. If Sacha wants to see where he can Bungee on my side of the world and where FH can go flying with the Warbirds then go to these two sites: http://www.warbirdsoverwanaka.com/ and http://www.bungy.co.nz/. Always lovely to read your stories….
    Jennifer

  33. you really make me laugh Corey!
    🙂
    🙂
    (I have always wonder WHY somebody would do such a thing, but I guess I don’t have a 18 years old soul…just 20 or so 🙂 )
    xoxo

  34. Minodora

    I love this picture!Can u send some burnt cherry jam over here?I’ll try to make some strawberry jam,hope not burnt.:)

  35. jend’isère

    Chubby baby had been connected only months before.Years later a cord connection to another mother, Earth.

  36. juliette

    Love you,
    Love your Poetry,
    Love Sacha.
    Loce the lace baptismal gown… Tatiana’s worn it too.
    <3

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