Life is messy. Grandma explains, “You know, when I was young, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster. Up and down, up, down. Oh, what a ride. I always wanted to go again. It was just interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened...so scared, so sick, so excited...and so thrilled all together. Some didn´t like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.”
In the 50s and 60s I LOVED going to Whalom Amusement Park in Massachusetts with my family. The main attraction for me? The roller coaster. The funny part of that is the kid perspective of the actual amusement park ride and grownup perspective of the term used as a metaphor for life. Think about it. What is the actual fun part of a roller coaster…. the ride down of course. The ride up is just a means to an end, a little bit slow and laborious to be sure. But oh my gosh the ride down is pure thrill, and I would pay my ticket price for the anticipation of adrenaline, speed and fear! How crazy is that?
I can't say I find any thrill or adrenaline rush facing physical and mental challenges. I can't say I wouldn't wish them all to go away. But I do understand the message. We can know we don't walk alone. We can know where two or more are gathered there is love… we are surrounded in love. And we can know that as a couple we each face all of this with different perspective and focus. We must be understanding of that.
I just found this hysterical cartoon, well at least I think it is pretty true to form and funny-ish… how Russ and I react to challenges...