Step right up! Step right up! Welcome to Musing Interruptus! Another week, another swing! A swing and a miss or a hit!? What will it be? Summertime is the right time to play games, go to amusement parks, and break out the slip n’ slide. Does that still exist? Today on Musing Interruptus, Summertime Fun or Don’t Sweat the Lines… it’s the time of the season…
As a child, summertime was almost as magical as Christmas time. It was an ongoing holiday in honor of the sun, pools and sprinklers, fun fairs, and the big one… going to amusement parks. In Pittsburgh, Pa, we had the Storybook Forest theme park and Kennywood. The most awesomest of amusement park experiences. There is even a movie… it’s called Adventureland, situated in Pittsburgh, Pa. When I watched this movie, a part of my heart glowed a little brighter and warmer because it somehow meant that the magic I lived as a child was real. It’s in a movie. I remember going to Storybook Forest. Imagine a park where you got to walk among the characters and settings of bedtime stories. There isn’t a movie about that. That place might have only been magic for me, not movie worthy. Fair enough.
The great one… Kennywood, we would visit it once every summer, it was a tradition we shared with our best friends, Adrienne and Andrea. We all knew the order of rides. First, the water rides: Raging Rapids and the Log Jammer, and then then the flying swings to dry off… If you got there very early or stayed late, you would get the chance to avoid long lines, but most of the day was divided between standing in line, the anticipation of getting on the ride, and the actual five seconds you were on the ride. It might be possible that my favorite ride was the Musik Express (imagine going in circles in a box, fighting gravity, and listening to loud music. That was fun. The lines didn’t matter, they were worth it. This was a special exercise in learning how to wait for good things to happen and your turn. I still do that. I get in line, enjoy the anticipation of the first drop, and hope for the best. With arms wide open and a near empty stomach, just in case… When it is over, I just run to the next ride to get in line. If the ride merited it, a second time around was possible.
As I look back at this experience, I think the whole thing very odd. At the same time, the metaphor for soooo many things in life and life lessons were there for the taking that day. Going to the amusement park felt like a reward, but part of that reward was standing in line, for what seemed to be, eternities at a time. Every year, getting taller was also a thing. Hoping to get off the kiddie rides and onto the adult rides was a rite of passage into full-blown childhood. You know, being a big kid. This was tantamount to getting your driver’s license.  I loved anything I could drive or that spun me in circles, especially the one in which the floor dropped. I would ride the rollercoasters because everyone was doing it. I didn’t really like them. I was under the impression that riding roller coasters would make me brave, like going into the haunted house and not closing my eyes.  It’s true, I am very brave because of it. Continue Reading

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