Among the rites of passage in American life...learning the 'cannonball' is as important as it gets...
Skip this key step of life development and you risk huge consequences that may play out in bizarre adult behavior...
The essence of the cannonball is the 'splash'...guys like John Candy, Will Farrell, and Chris Farley...all mastered the technique...you double up in a tuck and get as many people wet as you possibly can...
Some can do a cannonball...some simply can't...
Twiggy can't...
Mick Jagger never could...
Hilary Clinton...sorry...no way
Now some folks go through life with alternatives to the cannonball...
there's the 'swan dive' or the 'jack-knife'...I'm sure Adam from American Idol does a lovely swan dive...
and then there is the 'belly flop', which is a desperate attempt to cover the fact that a person just never learned to do the cannonball...
But today, Luke Rutenbar (3 and a half) learned to do the cannonball in the Dove Canyon community pool...
Note the quality and symmetry of the splash...
Other things we are working on in swim lessons with grandpa are jumping and trust issues...
floating on our back...
Enjoying the water rather than fearing it...
and swimming to the side of the pool...climbing out and going again...and again...and again.
Of the things I've done in the spring of '09...many will never amount to anything...But teaching Luke to do a proper cannonball...that is something to hold on to.
