If your friends jumped off a dam, would you?

Last night was a night of unparalleled strength - no, not in that I jumped off a dam, but in that my friends were able to force me to jump off a dam using only their powers of persuasive language. It all started with Kristin and I scavenging for our other friends who had left before us to get to a birthday party at Eklutna.

Woodsventure?

The hunt was adventure enough for me and Kristin - we had pre-resolved not to go in the water at all, even though we brought swimsuits and a change of clothes just in case.

However, the second we found everyone, the persuasion began. Can you even call hardcore peer pressure persuasion? Almost everyone else had already jumped off the Eklutna dam into the lake multiple times, and we were the few holdouts. I don't know what the fascination is with forcing your friends to do stuff they don't want to, but it's apparently quite satisfying. Kristin was the first to give in.

Spread your wings, Kris.

After I saw Kristin jump off, I felt a little jealous. I wanted to be able to say I did something cool this summer, too. My main worry was that I would get out of the water and be freezing. Lately I've turned into my mom with my "core temperature" issues and have been nicknamed Pink Bunny because I wear my fluffy pink robe around basically every day.

It only took a few minutes for my friends to get me to agree to jump off the dam.

SHEER TERROR

It took me a million years to even get on the dam, because you had to push yourself up there, which took willpower, and I was lacking that. And then once I got on there, Leanne had to hold my hand as I inched out to the edge. Literally inched. Once I got up there, the height became scarier than the cold aspect. Scenes from those teen movies where bad stuff happens to kids who give in to peer pressure flashed through my mind, with particular emphasis on that scene from A Walk to Remember where that guy jumps off that tall thing into the water and breaks all his bones. Or something like that.

I was probably at the edge of the dam for a good ten minutes. Whining, stalling, looking back on the good times I'd had in my life and wishing I'd spent more time with my family, etc. When I finally jumped, it felt like I was in the air for a million years. I figured it would be one of those experiences where you're like, "I expected it to be so much worse, but it really wasn't that bad!" But it was actually one of those experiences where you're like, "OH MY GOSH WHAT WAS I THINKI--" SPLASH. And then water goes up your nose and you forget how to breathe. And swim. And so you make Leanne lifeguard you to safety.

But now I can say I jumped off a dam. And I don't have to do anything else cool the whole summer. Or maybe the rest of my life.