Sometimes you can learn a valuable life lesson at the most unexpected time from the most unexpected person. This happened to me yesterday at Six Flags from my 7 year old son.
He really wanted to ride the Titan – a massive roller coaster that is 25 stories high and has a top speed of 85 mph. I am not the biggest fan of roller coasters and was secretly hoping that he would change his mind as it got later in the day or when he actually saw it.
I told him there was not pressure to ride it as we got closer and got in line. As I looked up at this massive coaster I said to myself “There is no way I’m getting on this thing” and hoped he would not be tall enough. To my dismay he was a few inches over the minimum height requirement so we proceeded to move up in the line which was not very long.
I told him that “Daddy is an old man so I will wait in line with you but won’t be able to ride it and that we would have to ride it by himself”. He said that’s fine with a smile and we kept moving forward in the line.
He was so happy and as we got closer I asked him if he still wanted to do it and he said “Yes I really do”. At that moment I decided that if my son was so excited about this experience that I didn’t want to miss out on this and for him to experience it alone. So then and there I decided I would ride it with him.
When I told him I would ride it too his face just lit up. As we got on the ride my heart was racing and I thought to myself I hope I don’t have a heart attack! It seemed like it took forever to get to the top of this beast and as I was looking down at the parking lot I thought what the heck have I gotten myself into?
As you would imagine the first drop was intense and twisting and turning was intense. To my surprise the ride was exhilarating and we laughed and screamed the whole time. When it was over my son looked at me and said he had the best time and talked about the experience all the way on the car ride home and told his mom all about it.
From this experience I learned to let go of my fears, be impulsive and most importantly to just live a little and to be present in the moment. I now have a great memory with my son that the “old me” would have passed up on.
Just let go and live a little!
