A Great "Roller Coaster" Day

Seeing my children waking up is an incredible experience and I don’t mean to literally overstate this fact. My daughter is 10 and my son is 7 and up until 2 years ago I witness their awakenings on a consistent basis and really never thought much about these. This all changed when I was sentenced and have lost many awakenings. These past two days have been so enjoyable and as my sister mentioned yesterday it is a “honeymoon period” but I sure hope this “honeymoon” continues each and every day one at a time for a lifetime.

My son seems to be true to form getting out of bed before his sister and he has such a great demeanor. This is also wonderful seeing even though he has grown physically he still has the same loveable personality. I did forget to mention that he is literary skills have expanded in the past two years and can read. When I departed he was just learning to read and now there isn’t much he misses also is quite the sports fan. Yesterday he was watching ESPN’s Sportscenter program and waiting for highlights from his favorite team the New York Mets.

It is so interesting how things are working out because I remember when I was my son’s age I developed into a very big New York Mets fan which was subsequently ruined with my compulsive gambling behavior however three plus years in recovery I can enjoy these highlights with my son. This is so cool because it isn’t about which team wins although my son really roots hard for the Mets. It is about spending time with my son. A wise person once told me love for our children is spelled TIME and that wise person was correct.

My daughter wasn’t far behind and in spite of the added incentive of attending a theme park today (Six Flags Great Adventure) she still lingered in her bed somewhat unwilling to get up but soon realized she needed to get out of bed to be a part of the day. Of course the more things change the more they stay the same as our intended time of departure was missed by a mere hour and a half!! This is not so unusual and for whatever reason we are always delayed.

Things were more delayed as we had to return to the house because my wife had forgotten something. Maybe in the past I would have been irritated by this and felt a little angst, however, now it is just part of the day. The mere fact that I was with my family all in one place make the difference for me. Sure it is a definite honeymoon period but I hope I have enough depth to keep these same thought patterns all through our lives together. I know all of this is fleeting and someday my children will be grown and on their home which is why I want to cherish all the moments both small and big just the same.

We were finally on our way to the theme park and the day was very good weather wise for July day in Central New Jersey. The humidity was relatively low and the sun was hiding behind a few clouds. Equally as important was the fact that the theme park was not at all crowded. I have gone to this theme park countless times as an adolescent and grown-up and it can get very crowded which does test everyone’s patience. This was not the case today as the longest wait for a ride was 20 minutes and wow we did go on a few of the rides.

My 10 year old daughter is quite the daredevil and is right at the height cut-off for all of the rides. She encountered some difficulties getting on some of the rides but for the most part we did have a full “roller coaster” day in the literal sense not metaphorical sense. We went on many roller coasters with the names of El Toro, Batman, Medusa, The Great America Scream Machine, Rolling Thunder and a few others. It is wonderful to see my daughter so into the roller coasters. My son is right under the cut-off on the height requirements so he wasn’t allowed on some of the rides and hung out with his mother. He did go on a fairly big roller coaster and did seem to enjoy himself.

There was one ride where my daughter was a bit apprehensive about going on; The Superman Ride. This wasn’t any different then the many rides she had already gone on other then the fact that you are positioned like Superman; flying with head faced first. We went up to the ride after a few minutes of my daughter debating whether or not she wanted to go on the ride. I did not push her either way I just talked with her about her decision. She said, “I might regret NOT going on the ride” so I said, “I think you made your decision.” Then we walked up to the ride where my daughter got measured and was able to proceed to the ride itself. We walked without waiting which is always great and reached the front of the line. We were just about ready to go on the ride then she was measured again and this time she wasn’t tall enough. This was very disappointing to her and I did my best to cheer her up which seemed to help a little.

In spite of this one minor downside to the day the rest of the day was fantastic. We had a wonderful day and it was so great being with my family as a family. This is what life is all about for me and I am such a blessed person. The day didn’t end at the theme park as we headed for my mother’s where we would spend the evening. My mother had a wonderful dinner prepared and I got to see my grandmother and stepfather as well. This wasn’t a typical “roller coaster” day as there were only ups and no downs. Yes, it was indeed magnificent and everything is spectacular.