Written by Rowonna McNeely – For the most part, I can be very level headed. I am calm in emergencies, calm when there is a spider dangling in front of me, and even calm when I have to save my child from a bug.
I am not fond of heights but I can still be calm and level headed when faced with staring off into an abyss.
But, Saturday, I was tested a bit. We made a flying trip to San Antonio with our friends, Drake, Andy, and Dakota to spend the day at SeaWorld. We had a great time laughing and visiting on the way down.
We made our way in and watched one of the many amazing shows they had to offer. After watching a show, Drake pointed to a roller coaster ride that they had ridden before that was ‘guaranteed to cool us off.’
I was sold. Not because of the roller coaster part, but because of the cooling off part. Honestly, I didn’t really focus on the roller coaster part. Now, it wasn’t one of those that has the big loops… I would have caught on to that.
It looked fairly simple. You sat in a big boat thing that climbs up to the top, turns you around slowly, before dropping you backwards, back up to the top, then dropping you down the roller coaster and skipping you across the water, ensuring you get slightly doused.
We all stood in line, laughing and goofing, watching the other riders as they went up and came back down. Kiera was excited about riding her first “big” roller coaster and was bouncing on the balls of her feet as we approached the front of the line.
It wasn’t until we were strapped in that nerves hit both Kiera and myself. I took a deep breath, reminding myself that I needed to stay calm for Kiera.
I listened to Drake and Aaron joke back and forth as we waited for the ride to start. Then suddenly, our little car began climbing up the roller coaster rails. It was at that precise moment that I realized we were beginning the climb to approximately 12 million stories up in the air.
“Look over there!” Aaron exclaimed trying to distract Kiera by pointing off to the skyline.
I, on the other hand, glanced to the skyline and wondered if one of the cars had just ever popped right off. But, I managed to smile, just in case, Kiera looked over at me.
Our roller coaster car made it to the top where it gently turned around until we were facing backwards. I took a deep, deep breath, trying to compose myself when from behind me I heard Drake tell Andy, “Oh, ya. This is the part I don’t like.”
“Are you kidding me!?” I bellowed.
Then we were flying backwards down the roller coaster rails. All calmness, level-headedness… it all flew off the rails. “Oh no. Oh no. Oh no! Oh no! OH NO!” were the only words that came out of my mouth. I think I might have screamed/repeated that mantra 571 times as we flew backwards down those rails.
We made it back to the top, for the last leg of the journey, when I realized what I had done. Kiera’s excitement had faded into fear. She was clenching the bar in front of her and I’m pretty sure the look on her face matched my own.
I quickly switched into “mom” mode and began reassuring her. “It’s ok, baby! Now is the even more fun part where we get to splash into the water!”
Aaron also switched into ‘damage control’ as he helped reassure her.
“Here we go!” Someone shouted as we hurtled over the edge and downward to the water waiting below. I managed to keep my eyes open and my hand pressed in front of Kiera, as if that would somehow make everything better.
We hit the water, causing it to splash up and around us. As our car began to slow, Kiera began to whimper slightly. Before I could even wrap an arm around her to comfort her, the whimper turned into an excited giggle, which transformed into full-blown laughter.
“That was amazing!” She yelled as her face glowed with excitement. “I want to go again!”
“Maybe later.” I responded, glancing at the line of riders waiting and uttering a small prayer of thankfulness for that long line.
We had a great day. After the couple of rides that we went on, I think this Mom is going to have to practice her “roller coaster” face for future rides with her daredevil daughter.
Thank you for sharing in our weekly journeys. If you have missed any of our past stories, check out our new blog page at www.lifea2k.net or drop us a line at lifea2k@yahoo.com.
Rowonna McNeely
Graphic Designer - Mommy to Kiera
Rowonna McNeely works with her husband, Aaron, at Willie’s T’s in the Art Department, regularly volunteers in the community, and has her hands full with her daughter, Kiera, along with two dogs and one cat.
Rowonna is a graduate of May High School (Go Tigers!) and grew up on a dairy farm. She enjoys reading, creating, swimming, and planning events. She’s also a bit of a klutz.
