Recently I wrote about my mother’s introducing me to jumping the waves on Hilton Head Island.
She and I later had another adventure at another beach. We went to Tybee (near Savannah, Georgia). They were just setting up their carnival. Hardly anyone was there.
We walked around and looked at everything. I had never seen a Ferris wheel. I could not wrap my head around how such a thing would work.
My mother, always up for adventure, found one of the workers and asked if we could ride. He was very accommodating and said sure.
So my mother and I hopped on. As the seats rose into the air, we could see far out over the ocean. The sea breezes mixed with the wind created by the movement of the giant wheel blew through our hair. It was quite the rush.
And then as we reached the top, the decent began. I was a little sad to have it end so quickly. But no, before the disappointment could take root, we were rising again.
Round and round we went, giddy with giggles and anticipation. As wonderful as this all was, after enough ups and downs, the lunch we had just eaten seemed to be wanting to reverse itself. I was beginning to feel a little queasy.
That’s when we began to process that the ride was really lasting a long time. As we swooped by the ticket station, we looked for the operator. He was no where in sight! 😳
On our next pass, we tried to signal my father, but he just smiled and waved as we went up again! 😳😳
By now we were beginning to panic. My usually cool as a cucumber mother joined me in yelling at my father, each time we got close to the ground. 😳😳😳
Finally he got the message that our cries were not ones of excitement, but were in fact, cries for help!
He looked for the operator and discovered he was gone. The look of panic on his face only added to our distress. We saw him frantically trying to figure out how to stop the ever spinning wheel. But it was to no avail. 😱😱😱
But God provided. The man returned. He said we seemed to be having so much fun, he thought he would just let us enjoy it, and he had gone to get a bite to eat.
When my mother and I stumbled off the Ferris wheel, we were drunk from the whole experience, but full of laughter and relief. We had another adventure and some great memories.
When my mother was in her 90s and life was getting challenging, I said, “Remember that day at Tybee, when we rode the Ferris wheel.” She laughed all over again. And she said, “We had some great adventures, didn’t we!”
And when I would say, “Wonder what’s next,” she got that twinkle in her eye, and said, “I’m sure God has something great in mind!”
On October 12, 1997, my mother went up and the view was so awesome, she kept going. And I am sure it was quite a ride!
