The first roller coaster that sticks out, for me, is the Wild Thing at Valley Fair. The company my dad works for would host a company picnic alternating between Valley Fair and the zoo. My mom never went to Valley Fair but she also never misses a chance to sit and watch the monkeys. We took my cousin to the fair and my mom to the zoo…fitting…
My dad, brother, cousin and I would pile into his truck and laugh the entire way to the fair. Usually our laughing was directed AT my cousin…poor kid. He just always said the craziest things, that “Up North” talk gets me even still to this day!
You can see the tracks for the Wild Thing long before you get there. The clicking sound of the carts making the climb can be heard from just about anywhere in the parking lot. It was on the bucket list for the day, but my anticipation for it held my anxiety levels high for the day. Doesn’t it usually seem like the anticipation is the worst part of anything? Or is it just me?
Waiting in the line was torture. You witnessed the screams. Once we became in the middle of the line and surrounded by people I knew I was doomed. There was only one way out and it was after the ride was over.
* * * * *
A couple of weeks ago, it was too cold to play outside (for me) and I couldn’t stand the thought of staying in and listening to video games (them) so we had the great idea to go and play indoors at the Mall of America.
I’m not a mall shopper. For me, you have to be in the mood to shop and at least have a general idea of what you’re looking for. I went to the mall with my neighbor once and literally survived hell. She’s the type of shopper that doesn’t plan on buying anything but wants to try everything on. And I mean EVERYTHING. I brought two things into the dressing room and she brought about thirty.
No. Joke.
I hated it.
Maybe I’m lazy or generally don’t like being in clothes groups of people have been in…I don’t know but it’s just not my jam.
Anyway…
I digress.
Nickelodeon Universe was the pinnacle of our visit. Get out, get some laughs in and make some memories. Since my little men have shown quite a bit of interest in driving our first stop was the crazy cars. I was worried my little one wasn’t tall enough to ride. He’s a big kid, but he’s only 5 and I wasn’t sure he was the right height. So I gave him a lesson on how to cheat the system.
We practiced him standing on his tippy toes without wobbling for a good four rounds of people riding the ride. When we reached the front of the line, the attendant asked him to step up marker and just like we practiced he passed! In all fairness, the dude caught him and he lowered down a little but kept on his toes and passed. Bash kept telling us we were going to get thrown out but my response was: it’s a freaking kids ride…lighten up grandpa!
We rode some spiny rides, up and down rides, let the boys go on their own rides and then about midway into our festivities and a couple hundred dollars later, I challenged my men to a roller coaster ride. Not one that goes upside down, I don’t think the tippy toe trick would have worked for that one, but a standard-sharp corner, up and down roller coaster. The line was long.
I mean, LOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG.
The kids have talked about wanting to go to Disney, but if they can’t wait for a ride for 12 minutes, I’m sure a FOUR HOUR wait is out of the question.
We made it a quarter of the way through the line, before my little man started to have second thoughts. By the half way point he was having NONE of it. And he bailed. Literally took off. Lucky for me my husband wasn’t altogether thrilled with the idea so he volunteered to bail as well. Leaving me and my oldest.
My oldest is a chicken like me. We don’t like scary movies, find a ton of things funny and I felt it was in my best interest to put a wager on this ride.
He came up with the stipulations.
You can’t scream.
You scream you loose.
I feel like I have a great advantage. Having 30 years on him I know that roller coasters are designed to bring out the screams. I felt extremely confident in my winning this bet!
There was a girl in front of us that I noticed, which is odd because I’m not a people watcher (that’s for another post), but she was solo and young. She heard our bet and giggled at it. When we got closer to the front of the line, I noticed her family waiting for her. How brave is she? Willing to go on this ride all by herself at such a young age, I was impressed. I struck up a conversation. She was 11 and visiting from Chicago, her family and her were going to the Wild / Blackhawk game later that evening. Every year, they went to a new state to see the Blackhawks play. I couldn’t help but invite her to ride with us. Each roller coaster car was 4 person car. She gratefully accepted.
we piled into the car not much longer after our conversation and she accepted the bet. We rounded the first corner and she screamed, after the scream she said, “I lost already and we haven’ even started!” Bash and I were headed up backwards, I couldn’t see a thing and had no choice to scream once we started going down the monstrous hill. The two girls OUT. Since we already lost, the screams didn’t stop.
At some point I noticed that I hadn’t heard a peep from Bash at all. I turned and looked at him.
He was frozen.
Terrified.
A death grip on the handle, slightly purple face from holding his breath and I couldn’t help but laugh hysterically for the remainder of the ride. His facial expression was TOO much! He’s the only one that didn’t make a peep, therefore winning iPad time.
* * * * *
It brought me back to the Wild Thing. My dad and I sitting side-by-side, my heart was pounding the entire climb. When the first couple cars went over the edge I didn’t scream.
At first.
Then I lost it.
Somewhere along the track I stopped screaming and looked over at my dad, arms up enjoying the ride.
It got me thinking, life is like that roller coaster ride. Sometimes you’re headed up hill, the climb is real, once you reach the top you have to come down, sometimes your ass is in the air, the turns are unexpected and you most certainly can’t see what’s coming next. It can scare you hard and leave your heart pounding with your eyes glued shut… or if you just pause for a second and really take a look around it can send you into the best laugh you’ve had in a long time.
I left that laughing with tears in my eyes. I can only hope I will lead my life like that. Trusting, willing to seek adventure and laughing through the blind times.
Much love,
Jes xoxo