Niagara Falls

My earliest memory of Niagara Falls is perhaps around age 7 or 8. I was big enough to be a stupid big show off to my younger brothers (this started happening way before age 7, I'm sure) but not mature enough to have any sense about drawing the line. (This didn't happen for quite a number of years after age 8 either.) We were making our way along the Niagara River towards the Goat Island bridge, and I decided that I was going to touch the current. I broke away from my younger siblings, ran to the edge of the river laid on the grass, and was reaching a hand toward the water when my Mom yanked me up and gave me as violent a smack as I can ever remember. I don't remember exactly what she said, but she conveyed quite clearly to me how dangerous the river is, how stupid (and illegaly) I was behaving, and what the consequences would be if I or any other brother would ever try anything like that again.

But the real punishment doesn't come until years later, when you're taking your own little boy, full of little boy confidence and stupidity in his little boy brain, and the first thing he does when he sees the river is point and say "Oh, I wanna go IN it!"

It was a long planned reunion yesterday. We got together with our Canadian friends, Andrew and Melodee, and J's best friend Jessica came along too. Melodee is expecting a little boy about a month before J, so the plan was to meet at the Falls, photograph baby bumps, grab some dinner, and then all go to my orchestra concert that night. Or at least, that was what we thought the plan was. A good portion of the day actually was spent waiting around for one another and trying to figure out (via text exchange at international roaming rates) what the other group had thought the plan was before they drove past and parked two miles away.

It really was a great time once we all got together. And I practiced outside by the Niagara River for an hour while we waited, which is the perfect spot to do it. When there's a deafening waterfall on one side of you and a highway on the other, no one really complains about a trumpet player.

Most exciting for James, Melodee and Andrew brought their dog Uley. James thought Uley was the coolest thing he'd ever seen, and Uley was pretty interested in James too. J later told me that she still didn't want a dog, "but..."

We made our way to the Canadian side of Goat Island, and I pushed the stroller up to the rails. The Falls were hardly ten feet away, and we were blasted by the wind-whipped mist. (Steam, James calls it.)

"Daddy, I wanna get out of the stroller!"
"Absolutely no way, James."

Five minutes later, when he was out of the stroller, he pointed out the Maid of the Mist below and threw lots of pebbles at it. I'm sure he'll be excited to see Papa's house again, but throwing rocks in Papa's pond might not seem so cool after he threw rocks at a boat over the top of Niagara Falls.

We never made it to the concert as a group. I made it, of course. I publicly stripped down and changed into my suit for I think the third time this month, and made my way back to the hall while every one else went to Wegmans.

It's hard to stand over the gorge and Niagara Falls and think mundane thoughts. Most of the time this time around I was thinking "I sure with James was a little bit more scared of all this. I think I'm going to move him a little further back from the edge." He was a good little boy, and he complied. I'm glad I didn't have to smack him.