A Slice of LIfe
Bill Lites
Being raised in the southwest my wife and I didn’t have the opportunity to learn how to water ski, so when my company picnic was held at a central Florida lake we were ready and willing to give it a try.
I went first, and had the hardest time getting up out of the water. Then when I did manage to hold onto the rope long enough to be pulled out of the water onto the skis, I could only stay up a few feet before I was down again. After several tries, and a lot of laughter from the shore, I finally was able to make a trip around the small lake with only three stops and restarts.
Now it was my wife’s turn. She decided to make her start from the end of the small dock. After getting her skis on, she sat down on the edge of the dock, placed her skis on top of the water and was handed the rope. The boat lined up and eased out to take up the slack. I was just sure the boat would pull her off the dock, and with a big splash, her first attempt at water skiing would be over. Well, boy was I wrong! That boat driver was great. As the rope tightened, he smoothly increased speed and my wife was pulled upright, off the dock, and there she went, in near perfect form. I couldn’t believe it. She was still up, and they were picking up more speed.
I wouldn’t have believed what happened next if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. She stayed up around the entire lake, and as they headed back toward us, the boat driver gave her a signal and she let go of the rope.
Now as she slowed, approaching the shoreline, she kept her balance, skied right up on the beach, came to a stop, stepped out of the skis and said, “Nothing to it.” I was totally undone. I said “oh yea, let me see you do that again.” She stuck her nose up in the air and haughtily said, “Why should I do it again when I did it perfect the first time?”
Later she told me her secret. Besides having the best boat driver on the block, she had asked everyone, who knew how to water ski, for tips and advice. Why should she ever do it again? It could be disastrous next time because after all it was only beginner’s luck.
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Old Things R New 
I love this story, Bill. You really paint a great picture. My skiing is more like yours. I now have trouble ever getting my bottom off the water. Maybe I can start a new sport – “Bottom skiing?”
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the most important thing, David–did you have fun? Sounds as if you did. Good for you, for trying–and for continuing to try. Awesome. :)TX
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Texanne, thanks for following our blog posts. We all appreciate you and your faithfulness and comments. Keep them coming. In answer to the last one, we’d like to say: we’ve had a lot of fun and some trials of different kinds, over the fifty-five years we’ve been married. We’ve tried a lot of things and been a lot of places. We continued to do some things, sometimes for a long time, sometimes for a short time, but the two things we’ve done that remain the same are 1. We stuck with the Lord, and 2. We stuck with each other and our family. We are so grateful to Him for making both possible. Bill
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