Water Parks and me….not so much!!!  I generally avoid water parks, but my husband really wanted to go to one, so I decided to go and spend the day with him.  So, I put my swim suit on.  That wasn’t a problem because my swim suits have either a skirt or shorts on the bottom.  I chose the one with shorts on the bottom because I knew that we would be walking around.  I was only going to go in either the wave pool or the “lazy river.”  That was not my husband’s plan.  He wanted to ride the water slides.  I was not going on those things, but I walked around with him to support him.

We decided to take the lazy river around to the back of the park.  Here is where I had to overcome my first fear.  I was just going to float in the water and not get on an inner tube, but that was not my husband’s plan.  He said: ” No.  You need to get on an inner tube.”  I grabbed a tube, but I didn’t know how I was going to get in it.  I went up on the stairs so that I could just kinda sit in it, but my fear set in.  I started thinking to myself:  “You are going to try to get on this tube, and you are going to fall over and hit this cement step and totally embarrass yourself.”  He told me that he would hold onto the tube, and I said:  “No.  That’s okay.  I’ll just float in the water.”  Then several people were getting off at the same place that we were entering and a couple of them were guys.  They saw my fear, so they started telling me to get on and they would hold it for me.  I kept saying “No,” and they said:  “We will hold it for you.  You will be fine.”  So I took courage.  They told me to just sit down and they would hold it.  So there were two big guys holding it and my husband.  What a scene!  I sat down and let out a scream.  We all started laughing.  What do you know?  I opened my eyes and  I was sitting right on top of that tube with no problem.

We got out of the river and went to the first slide.  It was a speed slide.  I stayed down at the bottom and waited for my husband.  I waited and waited and waited, but he did not come down the slide, so I looked up and all of a sudden, I saw his red shorts walking back down the steps.  When he got back down to me, I asked him what happened, and he told me that when it was his turn, his stood in front of the slide and he saw that the slide was a dark tunnel, and he chickened out.  I didn’t know it, but he has some issues of claustrophobia.  Hmmm….you learn something new everyday.  So, we went over to the slide next door, and the slides were open slides, so he was good with that. He went up, and slid down and he loved it.  He wanted to go back up and again, but he asked me to go with him.  He kept telling me that the slide was big enough for me.  I didn’t want to do it because I didn’t want to get up there and be turned away because I was too big to fit in the slide.  And then on top of that, I had to climb the steps to get up there.  I told my husband about my fear of being turned away, but he determined that my fear was unfounded, and that he looked at the opening to the slide and I had room.  He asked the life guard on the bottom if I could do that slide and he said yes.  So, he said let’s go.  I complained all the way up the stairs, and when I got to the top, I said:  “I don’t think this is going to work.”  He looked over at the worker at the top of the slide and asked him if I could go down, and he nodded his head.  So, my husband insisted!  I was terrified!  I kept having all of these visions that my body would get stuck in the slide somewhere and the friction from not having enough water would rip all of my skin off.  My heart was pounding, and then the green light came on for me to go.  There were three slides, so I went down the slide farthest to the left because it was a little bit blocked from the view of others, so they couldn’t really see me sit down.  I slowly sat down.  I took a few deep breaths, and then I pushed off, and laid back.  Next thing you know, I was flying down this slide just like I was on a toboggan.  It was amazing and fun.  I couldn’t believe it.  I didn’t get stuck.

We went to the next slide, and it had double and triple tubes.  My husband grabbed the double tube, and said let’s go.  I didn’t want to ride on this one because I didn’t think there was enough space for me.  There were three Hispanic gentlemen that just finished the slide and when they saw me standing there hesitant to ride.  They started coaxing me on.  They said:  “Come on let’s go.”  I slowly started to follow my husband up the three, long flights of stairs, and the three gentlemen were behind us.  I had to stop a couple of times to rest.  The three guys passed us up and said: “Come on.”    I told them that I was coming, but I needed to rest.  They said:  “OK.”  I finally got up to the top, and they started cheering for me because I made it up the steps.  Again, I told my husband that I didn’t think I could do it, but he went and asked the worker at the top, and he said I could.  He told me to sit in the back, so I sat down and my husband sat in the front.  The guy pushed the button, and off we went.  We were flying down this slide.  It was so fun.  My husband went back up again, but I didn’t want to climb those steps again so I waited.

During this Thanksgiving season, I have many things to be thankful for, but my experience at the water park is in the forefront of my mind.  I am thankful for my husband.  He pushed me outside of my comfort zone and did not back down.  I am also grateful to the kind people that saw that I was nervous about the first tube and for the kind gentlemen that coaxed me up the second water slide and cheered for me when I made it up the steps.  Kindness comes in many forms.  Those individuals didn’t know the fear that was going on inside of me.  They were just being good Samaritans.  They just wanted me to have a good time.  I am truly thankful, and grateful to all of them.

Kyeni