silver bay

today ended our fifth year up in the adirondacks to close the summer. 4 of those 5 years have been up at silver bay on lake george, with some of our dearest friends— discovering all kinds of wonderful new things about ourselves, our kids, and everyone around us. i experienced a lot of parent boundary-testing over the past 10 days, as i chose to give jackson almost complete freedom with a bunch of 7-12 year olds...no real rules, just some guidelines, and a lot of trust (and fear) on my part to let him be on his own. he was great. my peace-of-mind during our long days on dozens of acres came in the form of a walkie-talkie, knowing there were lifeguards at the lake in case swimming was on jack's agenda, a room key, and my confidence in my son's mindfulness and the caring of all the people we were with.

a tradition for the past three years has been a mini-triathlon for anyone who wants to participate (fast, slow, young, old, fat, skinny etc...) and this year jackson looked at me as the hype for the monday race built up on sunday, and asked if he and i could bike the 11 miles and run the 5k portions, knowing that a 400 yard swim in the lake wasn't something he was ready for. turns out his little bike wouldn't get far on the hilly 11 mile ride, so we both committed to the 5k walk/run leg of the contest. it was a first for him, and a first for anyone else so young in this particular event up at the lake...i vaguely remember doing a 5k or 3k charity run/walk in central park a long time ago, but that's the extent of any extended cardio workout for me in recent years. well, my 7-year-old finished what he started, and beat dad fair and square by about a minute, crossing the finish line and building a new postulate that will last a lifetime. he was truly amazing and although i was not sure about how healthy it was to let him run that far and that long, i am so proud and amazed at his determination, courage, and persistence.

the other wonder for me throughout the week was jackson's choice to spend hours and hours playing chess, 5 or 6 times with me (where he beat me about half the time), and dozens and dozens of times with adults from 18 to 60, some of them very highly skilled pros at the game, at all hours of the day from breakfast to midnight. he's quite a kid.

can't wait till next year.