A Second Coke

There are not a lot of 'crazy' decisions in my life. Do I want to ride the long way to work in the morning? Should I read that extra book at night to the boys before bed? Should I have the dreaded second coke in the afternoon at work? So when Suzy suggested that her dad and I go on the Knight's Tournament ride at Legoland the other day I quickly said yes. What did the ride look like? Papa's analogy, which to me seemed very accurate as we walked up, was it looked like the robotic arms they use to build cars. With a place for two people to sit where the fingers would be. This is a ride that Daniel can go on, so it can't be that bad, right? Well, much like Dante's version of Hell, there are different levels. Feeling our oats Papa and I decided rather quickly on LEVEL 5 (out of 5). In that small decision our relaxing and fun day at Legoland celebrating Daniel's birthday got a bit more interesting. One of the big warning signs was that they had a box for you to empty your pockets. Strange, it would be pretty hard to believe that anything would fall out of my jeans pockets, but who was I to argue? They loaded us in, and I do think I saw a bit of a twinkle in the eye of the young guy who set us up for LEVEL 5. After the bar lowered and locked us in, the platform below us retracted. We were lifted sedately into the air and rotated so the people in the viewing area (Suzy, Daniel, Sammy, Nana and Tutu) could get a good look at us. Then we flipped. Quickly. And the spinning. That started then too. Some tossing. More flipping, much time upside down. I never feared for my life, but I certainly was considering how much more could possibly happen. We are looking south, nope that's north, I see the family fly past. Papa and I are carrying on an abrupt conversation, I am pretty sure I heard, "I don't want to do this anymore!". I don't think that it came from me, but it wouldn't be too far fetched. I know that I had the thought that it was good that below you is water, so they could easily rinse out the vomit that was coming. And finally it was over. Back to the platform, which extends towards you. I was thinking that this could be a tease. They could pull that away and start again with the spinning, flipping, etc. Thankfully it was not a tease. We were unloaded, collected our keys and wallets, and proceeded with the rest of the day. A bit nauseated, but alive. Suzy, Daniel, Sammy, and Nana all had very different opinions of the show. Daniel and Sammy thought we were crazy, and both vowed to never go on that ride. My mom had averted her eyes, she said it was as bad as watching me wrestle in high school. Suzy thought it was hilarious. She must have some good pent up frustrations with me, to so thoroughly enjoy seeing me getting tossed around like a leaf in a hurricane.
For me it was fun. A good experience. Something I can use to remind myself to have more excitement in my life. I think i'll go have that second coke...