This weekend my hubby and I went to Heritage Square Amusement Park for his company picnic. I have not been to an amusement park in several years. I wasn’t able to ride the rides the last time we went so I basically avoided them after that. I convinced myself I didn’t really enjoy it anyway. WE HAD SO MUCH FUN.
I could ride any ride I wanted! The first thing we did was the zip-line. I read online that it had a weight limit of 250 pounds that I never would have qualified for before! I did not see the weight limit posted near the ride. While we were standing in line, I was ‘sizing up’ those around me and curious if they would meet the requirement. There was a scale to get on in front of everyone to prove your weight. No one else could see the number but it was still nerve racking. Before, I would have stood in that line with my stomach in knots thinking about the humiliation of being asked to step to the side. A girl several people in front of us stepped on the scale and didn’t make the cut. She was clearly embarrassed. I wanted to comfort her so bad! How many of us have been there? The only thing holding me back from the zip-line this time was fear of peeing my pants!
After the zip-line which I lived through despite what my brain was saying, we did the Alpine Slide. The slide is a half mile down the mountainside on a tiny sled. While this ride did not have any health requirements, I’m not sure I could have done it before. You had to take a chairlift to the top of the foothill then walk straight uphill for maybe 100 feet. I would have been exhausted before getting to the top. I had never done anything like this and was super excited. You control your speed as you slide down the mountain on a tiny blue slide. I’m not sure my body would have fit in the slide before. It was thrilling!
After the slide we rode a few typical carnival rides like The Scrambler and the Tilt-a-Whirl. I found it so easy to hop in and out of all the rides. On the scrambler, whomever is on the outside inevitably get squished due to physics. I was worried about squishing my hubby, but he looked right at me and said “You’re 120 pounds lighter. I’m sure it will be fine.” We comfortably fit in all the rides and laughed out butts off.
The last thing I wanted to do was an obstacle maze. It looked like my dream of American Warrior Ninja. I wasn’t sure how strong I had become or what I could do. Since there was a safety harness, I tried to do every obstacle without grabbing the harness and depending on my balance and core to carry me across. With the exception of the tight rope, I made every obstacle. My grip strength gave out by the end but it was amazing to run around with all the kids and do strength obstacles. While I was on a particularly hard one a young girl got really scared in front of me and started crying for her mom. I got her across the obstacle and out of the maze to her mother. I found myself wondering, why wouldn’t her mom come in with her? When I got her out of the maze I knew why. Her mother was overweight and didn’t seem very fit. How much more fun would that little girl have gotten to have WITH her mom if she could have been there? I’m so happy that I’ll be able to DO these things with my kids, not just watch from the sidelines!
It was overall an awesome day. Once again I couldn’t believe how much my weight was taking out of my life that I didn’t even consider. Last year at this time, my hubby and I could have never done this together. We would have missed out on so much fun and laughter together. We ended the day exhausted and happy. In the past just walking around would have exhausted me but this time it was from doing so many things and creating so many memories.
Today I challenge you to make a list of a few things you want to be able to do . Maybe it’s walk a trail with your dog or visit an amusement park. What is something that’s difficult to do now that you want to be able to do?
Very inspiring….. My favorite line “I’m so happy that I’ll be able to DO these things with MY KIDS”….. Just saying… 🙂