Beware the Longboard: i damaged my wife

i thought she was doing so well. Laura was so good to put up with following me around on my longboard. Lesson 1 wasn't a catastrophe. Lesson 2 was quite good. Laura was comfortable enough that she let me buy a 2nd longboard for my birthday so that i wouldn't have to ride my little skateboard around as i tried to teach her. i had such high hopes for Lesson 3.

i got my first skate board in 1995, and used it to ride around Provo for a number of years. then i got a long board in 2004 and rode EVERYWHERE: lots of days to work, on all kinds of errands, and just for fun. i'm not a real down-hiller, but i've made my runs down the Provo Canyon Trail. i was sure that i was going to get Laura to learn to ride.

we bought my new longboard on the morning of St. Patrick's Day, and Laur and i were out and about by mid-day. Laura was doing quite well. we lived only a few blocks from a slight hill; most of the neighborhoods surrounding our house are flat and flatter. i thought that the hill would give Laura some confidence in her balance and her skills. she was looking like she was getting comfortable with riding.

we pedalled our way to the bottom of this incline, and then i went a few houses up from the level. a little bit of a hill should let Laura know how it feels to coast for a while and she'll get to see how it feels to move with the board. then i decided that one or two houses higher might give her more of that feeling, and then a couple more. finally, i was sure i had picked the best way to end the day with a large boost of confidence for Laura.

Laura was so brave. she didn't question me. she believed i knew what i was up to.

we had barely started and apparently it was too long since i was a beginning boarder. Laura felt like she was going too fast and froze in her stance on the board. the board moved with her static lean and she was heading into the curb. Laura decided to run off the board.

running off of your board is a perfectly good safety measure when longboarding. knowing how to do so can save your skin when you miss seeing a rock or other small obstacle in your path. the technique doesn't work so well when you're already leaning your upper body too far in front of your hips. Nor does it work so well when you're wearing sandals. i know that Laur was wearing Chacos which are more athletic in nature than most sandals, but i let her get away with wearing Chacos. (i thought that if i made her change shoes before we left, she might decide that the commitment to boarding was too much for her that Saturday.)

i heard Laura blurt out her distress, and i looked over to see her running and trying to catch her feet up with her shoulders. Laura said she was just trying to make it to the side of the road and on to the lawn of a house for a softer landing. a poor shoe choice combined with a change in the terrain ended Laura's efforts. the downhill slope of the road changed into a slight uphill as Laura reached the entrance of a driveway. this angle slowed her feet down even more and Laura was full on falling forward.

Laura said that as she prepared to go down that she knew she would break a wrist if she put out her arms, so she crossed her arms in front of her for a roll. unfortunately, she landed hard on her right forearm to start that roll. i heard the air just squeeze out of her lungs. i had seen nearly the whole thing and was absolutely sick about it.

i had let Laura down. i went one block too far, with her in the wrong shoes, and she had trusted that i knew what i was doing. when i got to Laura, her forearm was a ginormous bruise, even though the skin wasn't even broken. i felt like garbage.


Laura didn't even let herself cry. we walked the few blocks back to our house. i had a longboard under each arm. Laura was hurting and i couldn't stop feeling sick about it.

i think Laura's going to be okay. she is the first to admit that she bruises like a peach, and those bruises love to linger. i feel bad because i'm pretty sure that i've lost Laura as a longboarding partner. most of all, i feel really bad because i wasn't watching out for Laura like i should. i felt like i had completely let her down. we didn't get married for me to just neglect her safety. horrible.


i won't ever not feel bad about this mistake. (yeah, there was a double negative there, somewhere, but it should make sense.)

this last picture is a couple of days after the accident, when the blood that was in the big bruise has had a chance to settle into the rest of Laura's forearm.