Have you ever been surprised by something or someone? Had an experience that wasn’t what you expected?
We had one of those. An unexpectedly frightening experience. With a ferris wheel.
It was a cloudy day in southern California, and we were in the mood for a rest. We’d been walking all day through one of those crowds that can only be found in subway stations, the mall during Christmas or Disneyland. From a distance we spotted a large, colorful wheel with buckets whirling slowly through the air. It looked peaceful. I was immediately intrigued and decided that the ferris wheel had to be our next ride.
Getting into line with the jostling crowds, we listened as the happy music piped through the sound system and the instructions repeatedly told us (in both English and Spanish) to remain seated inside the gondolas. Chelsea began to look a little pale as we waited.
“What’s up?” I asked her.
“I don’t think I want to go on this ride.”
She noticed that there were people screaming at the top of the wheel. We watched more closely and soon discovered that some of the “gondolas” were swinging wildly on the way up and down. Shrieks pierced the music-filled air. Chelsea hyperventilated at the thought of swinging through the air. I marveled at the genius who found a way to make a ferris wheel exciting.
In an attempt to comfort my friend, I told her that only certain buckets seemed to swing. Others were stationary or not-so-swingy. “We just don’t want a purple one,” I told her.
We all studied the colorful buckets and agreed that the purple ones seemed to be much more violently swinging than the other colors. Chelsea was a little comforted by the thought that we would most likely end up with a nice tame red or yellow bucket.
Unfortunately when it was our turn to board, the ride operator directed us to a deadly purple bucket. Chelsea blanched and I smiled. Sure enough, we had gotten exactly what we didn’t want.
We got into our purple “gondola” and sat down on the benches. I was laughing at Chelsea as she clutched at the walls of the cage in panic and whined about the lack of seatbelts or restraints of any kind. It was just a ferris wheel, I told her, nothing to worry about. We were going up at a reasonable pace.
Suddenly, our gondola swung rapidly to the side, plunging us toward the edge of the wheel and swinging our little bucket up at a sharp angle. I’ll admit that I screamed. We were all reduced to screams. It seemed that nothing was between us and a painful splatter into the ground a hundred feet below.
The wheel went around twice, with constant swinging threatening impending doom and causing us to consider the need for the vomit bags oh-so-conveniently stowed beneath the seats.
Finally we dismounted, breathless and frightened out of our wits and certainly not rested.
We laughed until we cried, then we promptly got back into line and rode that twisted ferris wheel again.
It may not have been the experience we were looking for; and it honestly scared us (scared Chelsea half to death). But we were so glad we did it, and we couldn’t wait to do it again. In fact that wheel ended up being a favorite ride and highlight of our time down there.
Life is like that sometimes. Actually, more often than not it doesn’t go the way we expect it. Things may even happen exactly the way you didn’t want. But you may get into that violently-swinging purple gondola and discover that you actually needed it or even enjoyed it.
We’re a week into 2011 and it’s already looking a little scary. But we’re hoping that as we make our way through the year we’ll find that more of the things that frighten us are actually ridiculously awesome.
--Brandie
P.S.-- In case you were wondering, our profile pic was taken on the dreaded wheel of death just after the swinging stopped. Chelsea was still unable to contain her screams of terror, and I was considering tears. Good times.
