On the RFamily cruise, when we anchored at Ptown, my son asked me if he could parasail. I said I didn’t think he was big enough (although being 4ft, 65lbs for a 5-year old is pretty big!). Ryan begged “promise you will check with the people?”. Thinking that our 5 hours in Ptown would him forget about parasailing, I promised I would check. Ryan was relentless all day in Ptown, and he was adamant about my promise as we walked back to the dock. When I checked they said “he has to be 80 lbs to ride alone”. “Oh, I am NOT letting him ride alone”, I insisted. “Well, he can ride tandem with you”, they said. Well, with us on the parasailing trip were 8 other tandem parasailers and 2 people hiding behind expensive cameras. I insisted that Ryan watch all of the 8 people before making a decision, thinking I would be able to see if there was any hint of fear in his eyes. The first two went, and they even dipped them in the water at the end before gently reeling them back onto the boat’s back deck. Ryan exclaimed, “I want them to dip me too, but only my toes”. So I withdrew my request not to dip us, and they guaranteed that they could be as precise as a toe’s dip. We watched the other 6 people parasail and chatted with the two nonriders. They both were marvelling at “what a little man he is!”. They both promised to take a lot of pictures and email them to us after the cruise.
We went up and entered the peace and quiet up above, far from all of the activity of Ptown’s harbour. It was as if Ryan and I were in a little bubble. We talked about a lot of things, especially how small the cruise ship and other things looked from way up there.
But the thing I remember the most is how I got choked up and said “Ryan, just a few years ago, you were my baby!”. It was a quintessential father-son moment for me, and I told him I would never forget it. Ryan said “I’ll never forget it either because it was my first time!” Can we go again……now?” As they reeled us in we held our thumbs up for the camera. Then, as promised, they dipped Ryan to his toes.
Ryan always laughs and tells people how (because he was suspended shorter than me) they dipped me to my bum and my wallet got wet. I always tell people how, when we were done, he immediately said “Can we go again……now?”
