I know God has good reason for the timing of things in our lives. I was married at the ripe old age of 26, and God didn’t see fit to give us children until my eldest son arrived when I was nearly 31. I am not sure of all the reasons God had us wait longer than we had hoped, but sometimes I think one reason might be for His own entertainment. Today was one of those times.
Mark and I took our 3 oldest children to Six Flags today. We haven’t travelled any this summer, so we have been trying to do a few of the fun things you can do in St Louis. They each received a one-day pass for Six Flags from their school, so we only had to pay for our own admission to take them.
Mark rode the big roller coasters with the boys while I went with Evangeline in search of rides she was tall enough to be allowed on. Well, Mark certainly felt the effects of the high speed and great heights he attained while on the Batman ride and “the Boss.” The one ride more adventurous ride I agreed to go on with Evangeline was called “the Highland Fling.” It starts off going in circles from a horizontal position and ends up with the cars in a vertical position and being spun around very fast. As I was being lifted into the air, my head began to throb, and my stomach came up in my throat. I felt like I do when I am coming down with the flu. Then, when the ride ended and I had to get off, I had to steady myself to walk in a straight line. It easily took a full 30 minutes for me to regain my composure and to feel like doing much of anything else.
The rest of the day we hit a few more rides and some time at the Hurrican Harbor water park area. It was fun to see the kids enjoying themselves, but I have to imagine that God was chuckling to Himself when he saw Mark and me trudging from one place to another in the 100-degree heat, only longing for the time when we would be in our nice air conditioned van and on our way home to our comfy little house.
Charis is only 3. How many more times do you think we will have to go to amusement parks in the hottest part of the summer? Will I be 50 and riding the Highland Fling with Charis and her pre-teen friends? I suppose God will still have a sense of humor then, too.
As a child, i LOVED all the roller coasters and “scary” amusement park rides. Jay did too. But we went a long time without both going together to one of these parks. So, when Abigail was a year and a half, my sister came to babysit all day on a Saturday, so Jay and I could go to our Six FLags here in Texas. We were so excited about the day away to just hang out together and “play”, so to speak. I was 28 at the time. After an hour’s drive and way too much in the way of admission costs, we got to our amusement park and rode one ride. One. Some little dinky railroad roller coaster thing inside a mountain or something. I loved it. But my stomach did not. When we got off, I felt horribly nauseaous, and could hardly stand. We rested on a bench for close to half an hour and then walked a bit, hoping I’d recover. But I never did. Jay rode one more ride, and then we sheepishly slunk out of the park, wasting so much money it made me feel even more ill, but when we got home and my sister told me I actually looked green, we knew we’d made the right decision. I was so sad, b/c I wanted to be able to enjoy the crazy rides and feel like a kid again. I don’t know what I’ll do when my own kids want to ride all those amazingly terrifying roller coasters, etc. Maybe we can go together and you and I can chat on the benches while our fearless (and younger!) children ride the ‘coasters!
The devil invented theme parks, that’s why it’s so hot there.
I’m with “april”. Give me a merry-go-round and I’m merry. None of this stomach-stomping activity for me.
Sounds like you had fun, anyway. At least in the a/c car on the way home…? heh heh….