Once the new year kicks in and the holidays are another 11 months away, I almost immediately begin counting down to summer. While I love the Fall weather best, the only good thing about cold weather is Christmas and our snow skiing trip. After that, I've got no use for the cold. Bring on summer, sand and sun.
In addition to sandy beaches, aqua blue waters, and refreshing frozen fruity drinks in my tanned hands, I also love amusement parks. And the one nearest and dearest to me is Six Flags Over Georgia.
I used to be a frequenter of Six Flags as a child. We lived on the same side of town as the park and my mother worked close by. Oh, and child molestation wasn't nearly as rampant back then apparently (so it seemed), because there were more days than I could count when a friend and I would be dropped off at the front gate with a mere 10 or 12 years to our credit and $5 in our pocket for food and drinks. Snort! Can you imagine? I'm not sure which is more appalling--letting your 10 year old run free in a huge amusement park (surely a molester's hang-out of choice) or thinking that $5 would get you more than a box of cracker jacks, let alone a day's worth of nourishment. But we did it often and I'm still here to tell the tales.
Once my son was old enough to appreciate the chills and thrills of Six Flags, I took him for some amusement ride fun. Not alone of course. My fanny was always in tow. But Chase proved to be like me in my younger years: not a fan of roller coasters. It took my best elementary school friend Missy Davis taunting and harassing me into riding one that broke me of the fear. Today, I think there are eight roller coasters in the park. Then, there were two: the Scream Machine, a rickety, wooden coaster comprised of rolling, steep hills, and the Mind Bender, a new age coaster on steel tracks with twists, turns, and the mother of all coaster characteristics: the upside down loop.
Count me out.
But Missy wore me down with begging and coercing and at last, I caved (I thought: just this once) and in line we went. One middle seat for me please! I thought, where I could hide my fears between the pony tails and tank tops of the folks in front and behind me. However, once we got to the front, Missy informed me that only the front row would do. I was trapped--how could I make a scene in front of all the hot sweaty folks packed into the no-fan-blowing pavilion? I couldn't. After all, I was a mature 5th grader. (5th grade!) So onto the first row we went and after checking and assessing my safety bar 15 times, the coaster began its herky-jerky, lumbering progression forward and immediately up the steepest hill of them all. With each clank of the chain that advanced our train of terror, I panicked a little more. Missy's reassurances meant nothing to me now--how could she do this to me?!
At the top, we swooped around in a half moon to crest the first of several plummets on the ride, this one immediately into an overhead loop. The terror in my eyes had to be visible from the ground. But before we could begin the treacherous, 60 mph descent, the car came to a sudden, grinding, most unexpected halt...right on the precipice of the mack daddy drop. And there we sat: static in an amusement world where dynamic is the name of the game.
After 15 or 20 minutes, our sky high party was joined by three-piece-suited guys who climbed the circling emergency stairs to investigate what had brought us to a stop. After another 20 or so minutes of quiet debate, they decided (I hope with an engineer's input) that they could push the coaster on down the first hill and the ride would safely carry us through the complete journey. Really? Just how sure were they??? But that's what they did. And made it through, we did, arriving back to the loading pavilion and a wildly cheering crowd.
Now, this could have ended one of two ways--the more obvious and perhaps more likely being that I never set foot on another roller coaster again. But that's not the path I choose. Instead, the 45 minute pause at the crest of the highest hill broke me of my fears and the Mind Bender Debacle actually launched my love affair with roller coasters that continues today.
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