My
Mom reconnected me to the enjoyment of flying kites in my mid-thirties. She was in her retirement years and experiencing
more physical limitations … couldn’t stand as long, walk as far and had to
drive home before it became dark outside. because she was dealing with the
early stages of macular degeneration. (Age-related severe vision loss). Going out to eat when she would come to visit
from out of town was starting to get too common place and our conversation was
becoming stale. On a sunny day in early August
about 12 years ago my Mom very much surprised me. She showed me two cheap single line kites in
the trunk of the car and stated that she wanted to go fly the kites at Veteran’s
Park along Milwaukee’s lakefront after we ate our lunch at a local eatery.
To
my delight, it was not only a sunny day, but a day that didn’t have very strong
winds. (Continue reading to get the gist
of exactly what I am saying.) I didn’t
know until then that flying kites was another way to meet guys. It was really endearing to see that when my Mom
couldn’t get her kite off the ground, that a guy who took it upon himself to volunteer
his services, would throw the kite up in the air and also run with it while my Mom
was navigating its movement with the twine.
We had so many laughs when this cute guy, seemingly close to my age,
came to help us out. Once we got the
kites up in the air we enjoyed them for about an hour … then my aha moment occurred … "kite wars".
The
objective of "kite wars" is to bring the other person’s kite down to the ground
by hitting it hard with your kite as many times as it takes. It sounds goofy,
because it is goofy and a whole lot of fun.
Cheap thrill at that! Having been in my fair share of kite wars
throughout the years, I have found that the ones that are most fun in battle are
the animal themed single line kites with tails!
So please don’t take offense when I conclude this blog post by telling you
to … "go fly a kite!"
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