The Fair

    

Our baby girl is in town for a few days doing wedding hair.  Having her back home is a treat and we wanted to do something special.  Well that something special ended being the fair.

I can't remember the last time I've been. 

I know I chaperoned our youth group years ago when my girls were still at home. But that's not always fun…Trying to keep up with 20 kids….making sure everyone is where they should be and having fun and that no one is being left out or barfing in the corner somewhere from riding too many rides..

No, this time was different.

No agenda. No one to run behind. 

It was just pure fun. 

Magical even.

I'm thankful for a man who sees the value in splurging every now and then on something  I would normally consider wasteful , sometime even "junky" depending on where you go…..a night at the fair.

From the moment I walked through the gates, I felt like a little girl again.

The smells, the sounds, the lights, the food.

There is nothing quite like the fair.  And I had forgotten how special they are.

Now I had this sweet romantic picture in my head about me and Nick riding the ferris wheel together.  Mind you, somewhere along in my adulthood, I became deathly afraid of heights.  I wasn't always this way.

  But the fear is real. And I was ready to conquer it. 

With my man.  In a sweet ferris wheel. 

 While he's holding my hand and stealing kisses and all that stuff that makes for incredibly romantic moments.  (or at least that's what I've seen in the movies)

But to my dismay, there were no sweet ferris wheels to be found.

Only mutant ferris wheels that are not sweet and not conducive for romantic moments.

Their only existence is to spin you round and round in their little torturous, unromantic cages while you also spin around in a big circle way up high in the air.

Um…no thank you.

So with my ferris wheel dream smashed in the fairground dirt, I had to figure out another plan.

Enter this great idea.  The Ali Babba or something like that. It goes back and forth until it gets enough momentum to make a circle. I remembered liking this ride a lot a long time ago.

That's us on the back row waving and all happy and excited.

Now this is me once I was totally strapped in and Lydia then tells me how she "sometimes" gets sick on this ride.
What?!  Get me off.  I've never had a bonafide panic attack but I think how I was feeling at that moment could have been the closest thing to one.

Two things I learned that night.

1. Don't get on this ride 30 minutes after eating Mexican food.

2. Don't get stuck on the back row…..can you say CLAUSTROPHOBIA? 

It was fun for the first 5 or 6 swoops back and forth.

Then it quickly became not fun… at all. 

I literally was praying out loud for Jesus to get me off without me getting sick.  When I looked over at Lauren and she was white with sweat beads all over her face, I knew it was serious.

Well, God honored my pleas/screams for His mercy and we made it off without loosing our chimichangas.  #thankyouJesus

So now I had to scope out a ride that didn't spin me in any kind of circle whatsoever.

That pretty much left this one.   

"Atmos Fear"

We stood there watching it a few times first….I wasn't gonna be hasty after my last episode.

It slowly, slowly, slowly  goes up to the top.

And then it drops you.

I felt like I had to get my money's worth for my armband so I strapped myself in and went for it.

That's me and lauren in the front there.  The worst part of this is the slow ride up and the anticipation of knowing you are about to plummet to the ground at any second at a speed that is probably not smart. The drop only last for a couple of seconds but it was AWESOME!!
I rode it like 4 times!!
If I could have just done the drop without the climb, I probably would have done it 40 times!

That person you hear screaming/laughing is me.

So much fun.
So many memories.

When I have fun nights like this and one of my girls is not with me,  there is always a little part of me that aches for them…wishing they were here too.  I missed Elizabeth so much and could only imagine how much fun it would have been to experience this magical place through the eyes of my grandchildren.

But life is not to be spent pondering the "if onlys".
It's meant to enjoy each moment we've been given.
And that's what I did.
At the fair.
On a Tuesday night.

How about you?
Are fairs junky or magical in your book?
Do you ride the rides?
Have you ever had a romantic ferris wheel moment?

I'm dying to know.