When Even Mr. Right Turns Out to Be Wrong

So I thought he was it, (partly because he seemed to be certain I was it). When you're over 40 and you've been through lots of everything, you think maybe you can't be totally wrong, or totally surprised, at least when it comes to men and loving them. So I feel kind of stupid, and defeated, because it appears that I was totally wrong and I am totally surprised.

So what should you do when even Mr. Right turns out to be wrong? Go to an amusement park. I went to one that has a water park and regular roller coasters and all. Spent the morning laughing my head off on water rides and getting soaked with my son and my nephew and his girlfriend. Then spent the afternoon screaming my vocal chords numb on death-defying rides like the Zoomerang and Down Time.

Down Time is a HUGE tower with a sliding square box on it. There are chairs stuck to the box, three on each side. So you go sit on these chairs, legs dangling, those u-shaped restraints locked over your chest. I was in the middle. My 18-year-old nephew was actually scared and tried to take the middle spot but I said nope, Mommy in the middle. I couldn't have done it if I couldn't hold onto my little guy (the 7-year-old, who wasn't scared, just laughing giddily). So up we went and at the top, I'm saying "wow, this is high, oh my god, this is really high, REALLY high..." It was like what you see when you're taking off in an airplane. So I stopped looking down, grabbed my son's hand, clutched the u-shaped thing with my other hand, and a second later we dropped. It was absolutely terrifying -- the most terrifying 10 seconds of my life, I think. It was the feeling I've only had in my scariest dreams, where I'm flying and then I lose the ability to fly and just fall out of the sky.

I got off the ride trembling. I've never trembled before -- not out of fear anyway. I was truly, honest-to-god TREMBLING all over. And out of breath like I'd just run somewhere fast. It was wild. What a rush.

The Zoomerang was a loop-de-loop roller coaster that went high, fast, and then backward too. It was scary but in a fun way so I was laughing the whole time, laughing so hard I could hardly breathe. And all that laughing and screaming did some temporary damage to my voice, which was hoarse and funny for about an hour.

So you can see why I am now saying it's a great antidote to a broken heart. You just can't cry or feel despair or even think when you're doing stuff like that. So now I'm wondering what to do next weekend. Skydiving?

Still breathing .....