My First Roller Coaster

Everyone has those moments that stay with you your entire life. Brief, little moments when you experience something for the first time that seem to stick with you forever… and you can remember every detail so perfectly. Like the time you learned to ride a 2-wheel bike…  or getting your first kiss…  or that first drive after you finally get your license… Its these moments that you’ll never forget. One of these moments that was particularly significant for me was my first roller coaster ride. It was on a field trip in 6^th grade to Indiana Beach, a little amusement park up in Monticello, Indiana. I was terrified. My class had taken the same trip the year before and I had gone, but refused to ride a single roller coaster the entire trip. Sure, I did the bumper cars and the ferris wheel… it was just those tiny cars on their wooden tracks, speeding down those hills and around those turns, that I just couldn’t bring myself to try. It was just plain scary, and I would not risk it. All my friends told me “Nicky just do it! You’ll have fun!”, but I quietly just shook my head and sat on the bench outside the ride watching them.

            But the following year, I was no longer a 5^th grader… I was a 6^th grader, and I had grown a little braver. I was still extremely wary of the roller coasters, but my best friend, Meredith, persuaded me to at least wait in line with her for the biggest one there, The Hoosier Hurricane. She assured me I didn’t have to ride it, so I went ahead and stood in line with her. Once we got to the front of the line, they came over the speaker and told everyone to get in their seats. I didn’t hesitate, didn’t think… I didn’t over analyze it, didn’t worry about what I was about to do… I just… got in! The bar came down on my lap and Mere and I began the climb up the biggest, steepest hill I’d ever been on. It was then that the realization hit me. I was on a roller coaster. Mere and I were so nervous on the painfully long ride up that hill that we sang “Mary Had A Little Lamb” together so that we wouldn’t think about what was to come. I remember the rush, the screaming, the laughter, and the pure thrill of the next minute, and when the two of us stepped off that ride, we looked at each other smiling and said, “Let’s do it again!”

            You may wonder why this moment was so important for me. Why has it stuck with me so vividly for so long? Well, the fact is, I learned a huge thing that day, and have thought back to that experience many times since then. I often find myself in situations where I don’t want to try something new because I don’t know what its going to be like… I look at it from an outsider’s perspective and overthink every possible scary, awkward, challenging possibility that could occur. I think the new, scary situation to DEATH until I’ve scared myself so much that I just refuse to try it. Big things, like going to college or interviewing for that job… or smaller things, like asking someone out on a date or trying that new food. It is these times, where I’m sitting there nervously, beginning to turn and walk away, that I think back to that summer afternoon when I was 12…. in the same situation, terrified, sweaty hands, racing heart… standing in front of that gigantic roller coaster, imagining how bad it could be. And I remember the way I just blocked out all those little voices telling me I shouldn’t… I couldn’t… I wouldn’t… and I just got in that line, got in that seat, buckled my seatbelt, and took the ride of my life.

            That first roller coaster ride ended up being an extremely significant life experience to me… one I reflect back on anytime I’m faced with something new that I’m not so sure about and would normally just walk away from. As the time till I leave grows shorter and shorter, I find myself just sitting there, thinking and thinking and thinking about what I’m about to do… In less than 2 weeks I will be getting on a plane, all by myself, headed to the opposite side of the planet. I may get lost, I may need a friend, I may not understand the culture… And I start to get anxious and freak myself out… But then I remember my first roller coaster, and I know the only way to do this is to stop stressing out and not even worry about it. When July 8^th comes and I’m waiting there in line at the airport, I’m not going to think. I’m just gonna get on that plane and start singing “Mary Had A Little Lamb” and know everything is going to be just fine.