Plank Goodness

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  On vacation last week.

I'll never understand these kids today.
Yep, I've got my Grumpy Old Man hat on.
I had only a vague idea of what planking involved, until a couple weeks ago.
It was the week of season-premieres on TV, and my wife and I are big fans of
"The Office", the top-rated mockumentary on NBC.
The show began with one of the characters, Meredith, face down in the parking lot
of the Dunder-Mifflin paper company.  I laughed at this only because the character is
a fall-down drunk known for waking up in strange places.
Then others in the office were also in this position.  Ah...they're planking!
The fad seems to be winding down, but nonetheless, I jumped on board just a few weeks ago.
Planking.
In case you haven't heard, it's where a person gets up on an unusual place, lying face down with their arms perpendicular to their sides, upon a narrow surface.  There is some risk involved, hence the stories you've been reading in the news, mostly involving young people.
My wife and I joined her parents and her brother's family at Grove City College for homecoming.  He's an alum, and not having anything better to do that Saturday other than stop at the candy, coffee and nuts store up there, what the hell.
My wife and I were standing next to the 'spacewalk' set up on campus with several other 'reunion' tents, and she turned to me and said 'I double-dare you to plank from that wall'.
Really?
Margie knows that I don't back down from a dare.  Not easily anyway.
So with some guidance from a watchful coed, I managed to climb my way to the top of an eight-foot wall, then lay face down and motionless while my wife snapped the picture.
What's more pathetic than a kid planking?  A 42-year-old man in the presence of said kids doing said activity. 
I told my best friend about this the next day as I ran into him and his family while grocery shopping.
He looked puzzled..."why?"
Good question.
The same reason why people climb mountains.  Or carve six-foot statues made of butter.  Or take classes for the most asanine majors you could ever find in college.
Because we can.
I did offer to plank at the top of the railing of our balcony from our third-story condo, during our most recent trip to South Carolina.
No takers.
So I'll quit while I'm ahead.


NEXT WEEK:  The Lionhearted