I'm amazed that I don't carry any scars from that day.

It's was the day of a furious wind storm. Many trees were torn from the ground that day or had some of their leaves and branches ripped down. I was around 12 years old if I remember correctly. My brother and I were having a grand time playing out back in the wind. We each had an army pancho blanket that we were using as make shift parachutes. We would jump off the trampoline or just run around the backyard holding the blankets out to catch the wind. Now these were army pancho liners (blankets) and as such had sets of strings at the corners. Eventually we both had the blankets tied at the corners to our wrists and ankles. I believe it was my little brother that got out the roller blades first, but I was quick to follow suit. Soon we were taking turns cruising down the street on our blades with our make shift sails tied to our wrists and ankles. I had a grand time blading down the street under wind power alone, though it was difficult to see over the sail / blanket.

I was headed up to the North side of the street to make my run. When I heard a loud roar. Well, louder than the current roar of the wind storm. I had my sail just hanging behind me. The micro burst picked me up, and through me on my back. A little frightened, I kept playing. A few runs later. I was at the North side of the street just starting my run. As soon as I opened my sail, I heard it: The sound of another micro burst. In a flash, my sail was fully opened and I was cruising down the street. To fast, I was going way to fast. I couldn't see. In an attempt to regain visibility I lowed my hands to bring the top of my sail down a little bit. Doing so let my sail drag a little on the road. My blades caught and rode up onto the bottom of my sail, and down I went with my arms held out by the sail. I slid on the left side of my face for about 10 to 15 feet. With my arms held out by my sail the only thing between my face and the road was the sail / army blanket. The skin on the left side of my face was trashed, and I even had some road rash on my chest. I'm glad that I don't carry any scars from that day. Looking back, a release on my make shift sail or at least not tying it to my wrists and ankles would have been genius.

I'm gonna wrap this up because it's going a little long for a blog. I hope that you enjoyed my little story.