What does it take to be a waterskier?

I watched someone waterskiing on the lake today.  It is a perfectly normal activity and one that I have done often.  This man was an experienced skier, but not a professional.  He was skiing slalom, and was doing it well.  He wasn't fancy, but was solid throwing up the occasional rooster tail to a minor level.  He was enjoying himself.  In that moment, I was able to do something that I haven't been able to do in nearly ten years.  I re-lived the feeling of being on the water, without the re-living the pain of a major injury or the trauma of a bad fall.  

It brought tears to my eyes, watching this man go by on the lake.  Then, my elation of gliding across the surface of water on a single ski, was punctuated by the burning, stabbing pain of the thought that I will never get to do that again. But maybe that doesn't have to be true.  Maybe there is a chance that I can do things like waterskiing, racing down a mountain road on my bike, or learning to down-hill ski.  I don't know what's worse, having hope that one day I can do these things again, or having no hope to do them again.  

It is said that there are two ways to control a society: fear, and hope.  I can avoid doing things because I fear the pain that may follow, or I can hope to do them(without pain).  That hope can cut like a hot blade, right through the heart of me.  How dreadful an existence it would be without hope.  Isn't that when we shrivel up and die?  

Waterskiing is about calculation, control, and strength.  The skier must calculate the angles necessary to make different curves.  We must be stronger than the pull of the water trying to suck our ski into the cut of the water.  We must control every part of our ski, and have constant, steadying strength in our legs arms, and core.  Our entire body responding in an instant to the bounce of the water under us and the push of the wind against our body and over the water. This form of control has nothing to do with fear or hope, it is about inspiration. When working with inspiration, it has nothing to do with control, it has to do with allowing growth.  There is also a form of upright, holding in type of control that comes with an activity like that.  That kind of control has served me well in many situations in life, though I have started to think recently that I need to branch out to have a wider tool set to work with.  Not everything in life is a waterskiing competition and I have been treating it like it is.  

I would love to do it again, but in many ways that part of my life is over.  Now it is time to move to another phase, which may require a new form of strength to accomplish and achieve.