Held annually in the fabled Delmar
Loop, the Ice Festival features human dog sled races, ice slides, the
putt putt pub crawl, tattoo scavenger hunts, game booths, and, of
course, ice carving demonstrations. But I was only interested in
watching two skydivers from the Red Bull Air Force Dive Team descend
from the sky and land gingerly in front of the iconic Moonrise Hotel.
As we congregated with other onlookers
and turned our gaze to the skies, three young hula dancers began
their performance right where the skydivers were set to drop. Not
yet masters of their craft, they still put on an impressive show.
Midway through their act, they laid aside their hula hoops, and took
up fire fans. This was when one of the dancers, probably just a
teenager, first caught my eye.
Her smile was like sunshine, and she smiled with her eyes, not just her lips. As she waved the flaming fans about, I
was astonished at how closely she brought them to her body. Then,
without warning, flames began to lick her bushy side bun. Desperate
to alert her to the danger, members of the audience frantically
called out “Your hair's on fire!!” She responded by shaking her
head, patting out the flame, and finishing the dance...with a smile
on her face! (Makes one wonder how many times that's happened.)
*scratches fire fan dancing off the adventure list* A moment
later, ladies dressed as penguins informed us that, due to weather,
the skydiving had been cancelled. I didn't mind...I had just seen a
girl on fire.
We can make many plans, but true
adventures tend to have a story of their own to share. If we only
open ourselves to what we can know or expect or control, we could
very easily miss out on some of the greatest adventures of our lives.
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