The Bright Side

 

The rain fell in synchronised motions that continuously hit my my hair appearing as sparkles. I stood as still as I possibly could, fearing that if I moved a muscle (or a bone) I would fall, and not of a short distance. The zipline wire got harder to grip as the rain started to drench my hands. Thinking to myself, I wondered if I could hold on another second, none the less however long it took to get a ladder. I glance over to my sister, and start delinquently laughing as if there was nothing that could ever be funnier.

An  hour earlier…

The car yielded to a stop signaling we were here. My eyes stared straight into the distance, symbolizing my fear. My  heart was beating like an uncontrollable drum, nothing but fast loud thumping. My head nearly exploding with fear at just the word “zipline….”

All there was room for in my head was phrases like what if you fall…. what if you get stuck….what if you get scared and fall off.

“Come on!!!!” yelled Ava as she stood outside annoyed at my pace. I took a deep breathe and as if I let out all of the “what if’s”.

 

I swallowed my fear as I got up from my seat (it was a big gulp). I very quickly learned that maybe swallowing my fear wasn’t such a great idea considering I became even more frightened at the idea of ziplining. There is an expression that goes along the lines of “Never be afraid of anything” Well, clearly that person never had been faced with going ziplining. This phrase sparked my laughter resulting in me reaching for the door ready to at least make it until  the check in (I hope).  

There was a huge black cast iron gateway awaiting arrivals. The check in station wasn’t large, basically it was a good size white tent that stood proudly in front of the the wooden platforms in front of the trees. Under the tent was a white plastic table ( the kind for outdoor events).  I sat down on one of the chairs awaiting my parents to come back with the tickets.

 

The introduction took forever as well as putting on all the gear that was required. Followed by 20  minutes of tightening of straps

Then, I looked up

There were tall monster like trees that had the height of a the empire state building doubled. Within all the trees were wooden obstacles and rope courses (that to me didn’t look that capable of holding anyone of a normal weight). The courses looked like the ones people on American Ninja Warrior would fall off of.

“Ready” called the instructor to our group that consisted of my siblings and I.

I slowly dawdled along the wooden platforms, taking what people would say forever. I climbed to the lowest course, which was still about 50 feet outside my comfort zone. I stepped onto the first platform leading the real obstacle. To get to the zipline I had to make it over an obstacle that even I would say was easy. My fear was decreasing along with the amount of times I felt the need to look down. Before I knew it I was in front of the biggest zipline I had ever seen. I was about to put my clip on the zipline when, it wouldn’t clip on.

I was stuck in the middle of the course,  at least what I call the middle.

My hands started to shake as I yelled as loud as I could that I was stuck (pretty sure the other side of the world could hear me). This was it,my worst fear had come to life. As if this moment right now had been taken out of my brain and made into reality.

I felt like a weight was being lifted off of my shoulders ( a very big weightl) as I saw the worker in a bright neon orange shirt ascending towards the top on a steel ladder, that clearly had not been used all that much. At this point all I could think about was getting down. The worker finally reached the tree replaced my clip, attached it to the side of the ladder and guided me down the well placed ladder that rested on the large tree.

My feet hitting the ground had never felt so comfortable. I smiled and chuckled as I saw my sister, still with a smirk on her face from our laughing session earlier.

Now that I was down, and there was no more chance of me falling, I realized being up there wasn’t that bad, in fact it was fun.  No matter what who could forget getting stuck in the middle of a forest, above the ground, in a thunderstorm, scared for your life. I have never experienced laughing as hard as I did in the rain stuck on a zipline.

I guess there’s a bright side to everything, even when it’s raining.