*Life with my best friend*: Finally understanding what your parents meant....

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Finally understanding what your parents meant....

This weekend was one of the annual fairs in our town. This time of year there are tons of fairs and festivals--one of the perks of living in a small town--and we try to make it to as many as we can. Yesterday's festival fell on the perfect day! It was sunny and 80 degrees, which unfortunately resulted in a pretty nasty sunburn, but made for an enjoyable outing. There are rides for the little ones and live music all day--yesterday's shows included the Charlie Daniel's band and Leonard Skynard. While walking around and watching the kids enjoy themselves, my nephew decided he wanted to go on "The Gravitron," the ride where you stand up inside this spaceship looking contraption and the whole thing spins, sucking you against the wall to the point where you can't even lift your head. While spinning, your "seat" (which is literally a big padded wall) raises up to the ceiling. As a kid, I LOVED this ride!! The line was always outrageous, and I swear I would ride it 10 times at every carnival I went to. While riding it, I would try to peel myself off of the wall, only to be sucked back by the crazy levels of gravity. It was pretty much the best ride that ever existed. So back to yesterday. My nephew is only 6, and he was dying to go on the ride, but we didn't know how he would handle it alone. My sister had a headache & my brother-in-law gets super dizzy on rides, so he asked if I would ride with him. Having ridden about 200 times in the past, I willingly agreed. Big mistake. Apparently, 28 year old bodies don't handle being sucked against the wall and spinning at ridiculous speeds quite as well as a 16 year old body. About 30 seconds into the ride, I tried, as I had done a million times before, to lift my head off of the wall and look around. You know that feeling when you are really drunk and the room is swaying? That's pretty much how I felt on this ride. My only option was to stare at my nephew, who at this point was FREAKING out, and not move my head. At all. Trying to keep a 6 year old calm while the entire world is spinning around you is not the easiest task, and I was more than relieved when the spinning slowed and the ride stopped. As I was getting off of the ride, I finally understood what my parent's meant when we were kids. Every carnival and theme park, we begged them to go on the rides with us, swearing up and down that it was a great time and they would love it! Well mom and dad, I can now sympathize with you, and I will never again accuse you of being too scared to go on a ride.

Here s a picture of the ride I am talking about. It goes by tons of different names, one of which is "Starship." If you see this ride, run. Seriously, even if you rode it 1,000 times as a kid, just run.

This is typically what you see inside of the ride. Since the gravity is so strong, you can pretty much do whatever you want and you will stick to the wall. See that kid who is upside down? That was me, 10 years ago. Not so much anymore.

And now here is a look at what I wore to the festival. I am super excited that the weather is finally warm enough to pull out all of my dresses, and I took full advantage yesterday!