Finding my Fun

Too busy.
Too stressed.
Too much going on.

Just a few lame excuses for another summer gone by without taking a vacation, a long weekend, or even spending a day at the beach.

Before August morphed into a fast fall, I was determined to do something “fun”, and made a plan to go to Canobie Lake Park with my BFF Tina, her daughter Jamie and her three kids Landon (6), Jasmine (4) and Colebeck (2).

Despite threats of rain, we decided to take a chance on the weather as I had already written FUN in my appointment book like it was a meeting at work, hoping I hadn’t lost it, with “it” being my capacity to forget the pressure and stress in my life for a few hours and just be silly.  

I worried the whole ride up about what was left undone at work and obsessed about an upcoming volunteer event. By the time we pulled into the parking lot, I left my mask of misery in the car, and practically skipped to the gate when I saw the old wooden roller coaster zip by, complete with trailing screams of feigned fear as I clapped my hands and yelled “Let’s Do This!”

And “do this” we did. We went on every ride we could, as the kids bent their knees or stood on their toes to be taller or shorter depending on the height requirements. There was nothing too silly or too scary for us, and by the time the sky opened up a few hours later with a drenching rain that lasted the rest of the day and night, we were so far into the fun we had nothing to lose.

 

I rode the new straight up/straight down roller coaster with Landon as the sky rained into our faces, and I couldn’t stop laughing even as my little head bashed side to side into the head guards when the ride came to a fast stop.
 
I went on the tilt a whirl with Landon and Jasmine five times in a row, the rain pelting us through screams of CATCH IT!, my slang for hitting the dip in the ride just right, making the cart turn around so fast you are powerless to do anything but scream and laugh. And we had the best ride of our lives when Tina jumped on, sending the cart spinning so fast for the entire ride we practically fell out of it at the end from laughter and dizziness, causing people in line to wait for our “magic car”, not realizing the magic was in the riders, not the ride.

By the end of the day, I heard my childish joy mimicked in the soggy kids screaming “Catch it!” and “Let’s do this!” making me thankful that my ride rants were all G rated.

The best part of the day was finding out I hadn’t lost my joy after all. It was just trapped behind the computer screen I stare at all day, under the stacks of file folders on the corner of my desk, pushed to the bottom of my ever expanding “to do” list.

I found it in the feigned fear of little Jasmine, her face buried in my lap as I rubbed her hair and told her nothing was real in the Haunted Mine ride. I found it in Landon, while he screamed LETS DO THIS on the beast coaster as we stared down the wet sky.

And I found it in my friendship with this family that has survived many years of change and always seems to pick up where it left off despite huge gaps of time filled with “life”. 

And I left feeling good. 

 

I left knowing that I’ve still got it.