the heat has returned triple digit temperatures kind of hot

we celebrated our friends' son, j., birthday yesterday at a local waterpark

you know the kind, with slides and a wave pool

it is a 'nite slide' and crowded, the place was crazy insane with people

it was a perfect night for a waterpark

the slide 'double dare' dared us to slide down

'double dare' is just that, a two-pronged water slide, one person on the left side, one person on the right side

you step in to a capsule, the door is closed, there is a count down to three before the trapdoor is opened and you drop at almost 90 degrees to a tube that flushes you thru a series of twists, turns and curves where you are stopped by a pool of water and you are left blinking in the air wondering, am i alive

because that fucking trapdoor is scary, there were plenty of people who chickened out, e.g. a twenty-something man in front of us in the line was loudly proclaiming his nervousness

i thought he was hamming it up for the girls behind me and nick, but no, i said, dude, look at me, i'm a middle-aged white guy and if i can do this slide, you most certainly can

nope, the dude gave me this look and made a b-line for the bottom of the stairs and to the ground

then it was our turn, yes my heart was pumping, almost in sync with the heart beat pulse pumped in the capsule, nick was in the green capsule, i was in the orange

i was proud of nick able to hold his fear and get inside, i don't know who was supporting who, at that point

the worst part is the waiting, three seconds can feel like forever

then the door opened, i dropped in to the tube, i assumed the same happened to nick

i opened my eyes, i was sailing thru a tube at warp speed, and having a great time

nick was at the pool at the bottom, he reached it at the same time i did

i couldn't take the slide wearing my glasses, i gave them for safekeeping to the lifeguards, i had to ascend the stairs again to get them

at the bottom of the stairs was the twenty-something young man, he looked at me and asked, you did this thing already

i didn't have an answer for him for this ride ain't some bucket list thing but i told him you have just this one life, how you live it is your matter, some like doing these goofy slides, some others would rather have our feet planted firmly on the ground

your choice, i said, is to decide when to slide, and when to stay on solid ground, there are no bad choices, only the choice necessary to you at this moment, but you have to make a decision right about now