I have always had this fear of falling. I am not afraid of heights (hot air balloon rides have cured me of that), but falling really scares me. So this year when Courtney, Ben, & I bought season passes to Lagoon; Courtney made me promise that I would go on the Sky Coaster with her. The Sky Coaster is one of those rides that you have to pay extra to go on. Basically they harness you in and pull you up to the top of this 150 foot tower and you pull a cord and you just drop and then swing. I did NOT want to go on this ride, but somehow Courtney tricked me into promising her that I would. So today we were at Sizzler’s eating dinner and Ben mentioned that tonight was the last night of the Lagoon season. I was sad because I hadn’t been since the middle of the summer. So we decided to go!
We get there and I am seriously feeling like I am about to vomit due to a combination of dry mouth, anticipation of going on the Sky Coaster, and anxiety from the meanest prank Courtney & Ben have ever played one me. Jerks! We buy our tickets and wait in line for two hours. Finally they get us strapped into our suits and we are standing on the platform and I turn to Courtney and say “What the heck are we doing??!?!?!?” by that time she was thinking the same thing. The people that went before us were being taken down and were talking about how completely awesome the ride was. I did not believe them. They hook us up and drop the platform and we fall forward and Courtney seriously begins to cry. Ben is just hanging there all quiet, and I am yelling stuff like “Oh man this hurts! Why are we doing this?! I am freaking out! COURTNEY ARE YOU SERIOUSLY CRYING??!?!?!” They start to pull us up slowly and I watch the ground get farther and farther away. My eyes got wide with fear, my heart was pounding so hard I could feel it throughout my body, and I was yelling at Ben not to pull the cord. He did.
What happened next was the most magical thing that has ever happened to me. I flew. I threw my arms out and yelled “This is the best ride of my life!!!” and “I am flying!!” and “This is so fun!” It was dark out so we could see all the lights in the valley. I wished that I could release myself from the harness and fly on my own like a bird in the night sky. I wondered what the worker would think when my harness came back empty. I thought about how I should probably fly down to the workers and tell them I am alright and that thanks to them I discovered that I could fly. I probably would have flown back to Texas just to tell my parents the news. Then skimmed across the ocean because I haven’t felt the salty water in far too long. Then I would have slept in the clouds.
I was sad to get off the ride. I wanted to fly forever. We then left Lagoon. It was almost 10 and the park was closing. I don’t care that we only got to go on one ride. It was so worth it.
Carli
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