Do that again and you're grounded!

Last night I was banging away at the final final draft (this time I mean it) of a romance novel when I got a breathless e-mail from Number One Son with a subject line that read, "No-handed trackstand!" There was a file attached, and the message read, simply:

Image - me teetering two feet away from a 20-foot drop into Lake Michigan. I'm *too* awesome!

Only another mom will understand with what trepidation I opened and viewed the file:



I am supposed to thank Carlos Cabalu for allowing me to post this shot and I would, because it's quite a nice photo, really, with the blue, blue water and the pink evening sky, but Carlos, what were you thinking? Instead of reaching for your camera, dude, why didn't you yell at my son to move away from the edge?

For those of you who are wondering what a no-handed trackstand is, I will explain that my kid was balancing on an unmoving bike. He can do that for about thirty seconds before the bike falls over and he does a trick called a horizontal trackstand, which is not something he likes to brag about being able to perform.

Number Two Son has given me quite a few scares, too, mostly by dangling off the sides of mountains. It's a wonder I have any hair left.

In the manuscript I'm finishing (still finishing) right now, the story's hero is a nut who does extreme sports. Ask me, just ask me where that idea came from.