Anchors Away!

Saturday was AWESOME! An organization called Team Anchors Away puts on different events throughout the year that caters to disabled individuals, to "level the playing field," enabling them to participate in activities of able-bodied people. Yesterday they put on a water ski clinic. I was lucky enough to have made connections my first couple days in Charleston that gave me the heads up about this opportunity to volunteer! Having helped out with a similar organization based in Augusta, GA, I jumped at the chance to do it again. It was so much fun! My job was to be "jumper." As a jumpers I was a passenger on the jet skis, and follow along side the participant as they were pulled behind a boat on their custom ski. When they wiped out, my duty was to jump in and keep them afloat and right side up on the board, grab the rope and reset it in the blocks (most the participants had a high level spinal cord injury and didn't have grip strength to hold the handle of the rope, so it was knotted up and placed in a slit between two blocks at the front of the ski so as to pull the ski independently), then do a deep water start to get them back up a running. That was the coolest part...the deep water start. Just had to center them the back of the boat, keep the nose of the board up and then ride a few feet with them once the boat started to pick up speed, once they were good I'd let go and my jet ski driver would pick me up, and off again to follow the skier. 

The whole day was such a blast! Seeing everyone having so much fun, it was too sweet. One of the girls would throw her arms up in the air like she was riding a roller coaster. We could see the biggest grin on her face and her head being thrown back as she horse laughed from time to time, having so much fun! It was her first time skiing. You could tell she was having the time of her life out there!  One of the little boys was pretty timid, it was his first time coming to an event like this too. He had cerebral palsy. His parents finally talked him into riding in one of the boats while his friend was being pulled. It got him used to the speed and he got to see how much fun his buddy was having. Next thing ya know a ski cage was getting adjusted and fitted for him. He was so cute!

By the end of the day most of the participants and their families had called it quits and were filtering out. A regular Anchors Away participant started asking if any of us wanted to try the skis. Guess who was the first to raise her hand?! Yep, of course I wanted to do it! And I loved EVERY minute! I held on to the rope though so I felt like I had some control. After a bit I got brave and started zig-zagging across the wake and jumping waves. Of course I eventually lost control and wiped out! The cage was a bit too big since wasn't fitted to be before I got started. So when I wiped out I came completely out of the cage and the ski went flying across the water!!! Ha! My jumper had to dive in, grab the ski, then swim back to me. The board hit me pretty good on the ankle before it skidded across the water. It still hurts soo bad! Very point tender! Nevertheless, wouldn't change anything about the whole day!

Can't wait til their next event in October--Lt Dan Weekend!  They're having a concert by "The Lt. Dan Band," whose lead singer is Gary Sinise, the guy who played Lt. Dan in "Forrest Gump"!! There will also be wounded warrior presentations at a local high school, a 5k run and 5k bike race offered for whole community and the wounded warriors, as well as plenty of activities to choose from: golf, tennis, basketball, scuba diving, kayaking, adaptive aquatics, fishing, horseback riding, boat rides!  Count me in!

The road gladdens the obsessed ghost.