Thrill

I spent Sunday with fabulous people celebrating my daughter’s eleventh birthday at an amusement park which calls itself “Thrill Capital of the Southeast.”  The occasion offered something I have always loved, roller coasters.

Collins English Dictionary - Complete 10th Edition cited at dictionary.com defined the noun thrill.

1.  a sudden sensation of excitement and pleasure
2.  a situation producing such a sensation
3.  a trembling sensation caused by fear or emotional shock

I had not ridden a rollercoaster in years.  I was not sure my forty-plus body would willingly comply with instructions from my brain to board.  My forty-plus brain was concerned with how I would feel physically if I did!  But, I really wanted to try. 

I started small with my youngest two children on three roller coasters requiring less height.  Based on feeling good after those I braved some larger ones with willing compatriots as we traded off the young children for a place in the line of two rides labeled “Aggressive Thrill.”

The sudden sensation of fear sets in just after they buckle me into my seat.  At this moment I change my mind and wish not to go on the ride.  Knowing it is too late for that I choose to grasp whatever is intended to restrain me in my seat, large shoulder harness being the most consoling.  Screaming is a requisite as I ascend the obligatory first climb and drop over the hill.  I screamed my way through the entirety of two amazing roller coasters yesterday.  The sudden sensation of excitement and pleasure set in after the bottoming out of the first hill as I raced forward through loops, drops and turns.  When the train car pulled into the unloading area I was overcome with the thrill of the ride.  Awesome. 

Because I was celebrating the birth of my daughter I thought about how riding a roller coaster was a good way to recall the day she was born.  I remember dutifully waiting as if in a queue as my due date arrived.  I remember the sudden sensation of excitement several days past my expected due date when I knew my contractions were coming regularly and not stopping, signaling the time to go to the hospital.  I remember walking happily around the hospital halls chatting as early labor progressed just as I was doing while waiting for a roller coaster ride.  The sudden sensation of fear set in just after I climbed up on the birthing table as contractions became too strong for me to continue standing.  Knowing it was too late to change my mind, although this is the moment I was sure I could not do what I had started, I held onto my knees for dear life.  We climbed the giant hill I had committed myself to and screamed my way over the crest and descent, tense muscles and pushing to birth my child.  As they placed her in my arms when the ride was over I was overcome with the thrill.  Awesome.