Home

About Homedaddy

Archives

Subscribe

Tell A Newspaper

Contact

Music

Publisher's Area

Mr. Todd's Wild Ride

A common side effect of freelancing is the necessity of working on holidays, and July 4th was no exception for Julia. Corporate folks actually get paid to take the day off to indulge in ritual alchohol consumption before fumbling around in the dark with incendiary devices, but for us it was a day like any other.

Almost.

In keeping with the holiday spirit, I decided to take Emma to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, which is very close to our home. I'd show her the roller coaster, just like the one in "Curious George Visits An Amusement Park."

When informed of our plans, Julia's disapppointment took me by surprise. It hadn't occurred to me to save Emma's first amusement park trip for a whole-family bonding experience, so I improvised and promised Julia that we wouldn't go on any rides, we'd just look at them. This would be a warm-up, a reconnaissance trip, so that the next time, with Mom, we could try some rides.

But when we arrived, Emma's eyes bugged out at the sights and I was immediately sorry that we hadn't waited for Julia. Emma knew that there was something really wild and magical and a little scary going on here, and she approved.

She was in awe of the rides. They must have looked to her like huge sections of torn-open buildings, pitching about in space, festooned with lights and full of screaming grown-ups. In a pre-emptive maneuver, I told her that I didn't want to go on any rides, I just wanted to look at them. Speechless, she gave me a solemn nod that said "Yes, perhaps this is the best course of action."

Everything went according to plan. The rides were fascinating but not tempting, although the merry-go-round was a close call. Emma knows about carousels from stories, songs, and general kiddie folklore, so she recognized it the moment she saw it. Still, it was big and loud enough so that a close look was sufficient.

We were in great shape till we inadvertently wandered into the kiddie ride area. Normally, Emma may have been too timid for them but after gazing up at all those gigantic, thundering monstrosities, these things looked like a piece of cake.

We both spotted the first ride at the same moment: Baby flying dragons. As Emma went pleasantly nuts it was clear that we were going to deviate from the Plan. I made a feeble attempt to alter the Natural Course of The Universe by saying something insipid like "Let's go get Mama so we can ride them," which was not dignified with a response.

As we boarded the ride, I had one last stab of doubt, imagining that Emma would scream bloody murder the moment the thing began to move, but there was no need to worry. She was thrilled by the ride and, miraculously, was content to head for home afterward.

The only trade-off is that Julia now has exclusive rights on Emma's first carousel ride.

send this column to a friend!
have a comment about this column?

© Todd Pinsky 1998-2002. All rights reserved.