I was catching up on some of the blogs I follow and after reading a delightful recount of a day at Six Flags (Andi's Ramblings), I was reminded of my amusement park experiences.
As a child, I was very cautious and fearful of many things. Some made sense, but most were pretty unreasonable. For example, I was terribly shy and the thought of asking a sales clerk where the bread might be in a store would practically paralyze me. Ah...stories for another time.
When I was somewhere around 13 or 14, my parents took us to AstroWorld (an amusement park that used to be in Houston). My brother and I were crazy excited because we had never been to an amusement park before. However, once we got there I discovered my fears about certain things were not at a place where I could control or rationalize them.
We went on the sidewinder (or at least something like it) that turned us around and went up and down. I loved it. It was a nice secure ride. Good strong metal bars that held everything in place. Then we decided to take the ariel tram across the park to ride the roller coasters. Here comes the embarrassing part...
I FREAKED out. The concept of being suspended in the air by nothing but cables did not sit well with me. It is not a rational fear because I know that those cables are incredibly strong and needless to say, there are not many occurrences of cables just snapping in the middle of amusement parks, but regardless, I was terrified.
Keep in mind, I was in my early teens. That said, I did not handle the situation well. I literally started to bawl. Loud sobs, huge tears, shaking body. Not a pretty sight. As soon as we got off the ride, I was able to compose myself, but during the ride, the only consolation was my brother (younger) holding my hand and petting my shoulder telling me that everything would be okay.
We are typical siblings. We love each other dearly, but we sure picked on each other as kids. Not this time. Instead of making fun of his big sis, he took care of me. It sounds so silly, but I was terrified enough that little else comforted me. To this day, I remember the moment clearly and I will always cherish his unconditional love.
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. I discovered quickly that wooden roller coasters were not for me - way too rickety - but no more freak-outs. Overall, we had a great time, and I have been to other amusement parks since without major incident.
I ultimately place amusement parks in the fun category, but just don't ask me to ride an ariel tram.
3 comments:
I too had many irrational fears as a child and they manifested at amusement parks where I really thought I wanted to ride something but then I would see the warning signs as I got in line and would almost have a panic attack and decide not to go on it after all. I'm mostly over that now, but every once in a while I get one of those panicky feelings and have to talk myself through it. I'm glad you and your brother are close. Isn't it great to have that in a sibling?
I am a 43 year old CHICKEN when it comes to roller coasters and heights. So you don't like hanging from cables...how do you handle ski lifts so well?
Paula, I actually have had to seriously work on my fear on ski lifts. The first several years I went on the Sipapu retreat, the students would laugh at me because I couldn't look around. All I could handle was to grip the chair and pray I wouldn't start crying in front of them. I ended up having to confide in several students so they could encourage me on the ride. Sad, I know. ; )
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