Lessons From Joshua

  I guess it wasn’t all that high, two stories maybe three in some places.  I just hated the idea of being suspended on a thin cable far above the amusement park seated on a metal bench with only a free-swinging bar in front of me.  I hated the sky ride.

Josh wanted to ride it.  I tried to get him excited about rides he had loved just the year before: the tilt-a-whirl, the scrambler, the snowcaps.  He showed no interest.  He wanted to go on the sky ride.  So we did.

Our family goes to the amusement park every year.  Mona and Noah had tried to get me to ride it the year before.  I refused and let them ride together.   I piggy-backed Josh and we ran across the park with Mona and Noah riding above us all the way to the other side.  It made sense at the time.  I wasn’t about to go on that ride…until now.

Josh wasn’t into the rides like he was last year.  Everything he enjoyed the year before caused him to cry now.  The only thing he had wanted to do so far was the merry-go-round.  That was fine except if I spun one more time, I was going to be shorted my breakfast.  I walked him to the other side of the park as a distraction.  Josh found the stairs to the sky ride.

I chased him up the stairs all the way to the top.

“Josh,” I discouraged.  “I don’t think you really want to go on this one.”

Josh started cooing.  He looked me straight in the eye and signed ‘please—more—please’.

I couldn’t say no to that.  I made my way to the top of the stairs.  The ride attendant positioned us in front of a cart. Josh hopped on immediately and shut his bar.  I was nervous, but had no choice but to do the same. 

I felt the cart dip and swing as I lifted my feet and shut my bar.  I grabbed Josh’s bar to make sure it stayed shut the entire way.  I closed my eyes tightly.  The wire hummed as the cart was pulled along the cable.  I said a silent prayer for our safety then opened my eyes when I heard Josh laugh.

He seemed to love the sky ride.  He was wide eyed as he looked around the park and then down over the side of our cart.  I couldn’t see his face anymore.  I had no idea if he really liked this.  If he decided to throw a fit, we were done for.  The only places to land were the pavement or the blazing hot metal rooftops of the buildings along the boardwalk.  Neither seemed like a good option.  He pulled his head up again.

He was smiling and scanning over the landscape. The wheel on our cart hit a bump.  My body shook.  It was all normal.  They had to attach the cables for the ride somewhere, but it didn’t put me at ease.  He swung his leg back and forth as he giggled.