I have figured out I am getting older.

I knew something was up.  Sure enough they were right----everyday we actually do get older. Who would have thought?

A few weeks ago, the annual carnival made its annual visit to the parking lot facing the oldest grocery store; not only the oldest store in our community, but likely the entire county. (I think it was opened in the 1870s.)  Fortunately the food is not from opening day.

The carnival used to be my favorite part of summer---growing up we always knew it was on its way as the signs were placed in the windows of retailers of its pending arrival and the parking lot where it was held, had barricades up making sure no one parked where the rides were soon to be placed.  I don’t remember all of the rides, but the one I loved most was called,  the “Scrambler.”

If you are familiar with the ride, it spins in a broad circle as the cars weave in and out appearing to nearly miss one another. They always did miss, but sometimes I wondered.  When we went on the Scrambler, we always tried to squeeze the person who rode with us; centrifugal forced pushed you against them and the goal was to make them so winded they could not catch their breath.  I am not sure if they still call it by the same name, but I know it is still around.

The problem now is I can’t ride on it any more; any ride that spins is completely off limits. It doesn’t matter if it’s a carnival or playground ride, just watching it can make me feel ill. I have learned, from the other parents at the carnival, that I am not alone.  Last year, after a lot of begging from my daughter, I took a ride on a one that spun.  For this ride, you lay down and rise up and down all going in one direction. I kept my eyes straightforward, didn’t look to see how the kids were doing, and prayed I was not going to get sick. Luckily I didn’t, but I really felt bad the rest of the day. 

One point of difference between the good ol’ days and today is the price to ride and feel miserable after you get off the ride.  I remember the tickets were a dime and all you needed was one ticket per ride. Today, they are more than a dollar per ticket and the minimum to ride is two to three tickets. What do we do? For $15 or so dollars, you can the wristband that allows you to ride as many rides as you can over several hours. Although I didn’t ride any, based upon the way I felt after 3.5 hours, you would have thought I was on everyone of them.

The photo above is of a playground ride at our local park. You get on, hold tight and spin around. Ugh. Just taking the picture made me dizzy. What has happened to me? Oh yeah, I think I have gotten older.

Thanks for stopping by.