Words of daughter prompt insanity

By Pam Mansell
Herald Writer

Up at 6 a.m., off for a brisk two-mile walk, back home for our standard breakfast: grapefruit for Charley, Special K for me. Then work, then supper, then another walk if we have the energy then sleep. Evenings out are planned ahead, as are vacations and holiday family gatherings. I prefer to think of it as ``organized'' rather than unspontaneous, and it's a way of life I find very comfortable.

Still... Cate's words nagged me for days. Every time I wrote a list of things to do for the day, every time I planned meals for the week, I thought I heard her sighing something like, ``b-o-o-ring, b-o-o-ring.''

Maybe that's what prompted our spur-of-the-moment change of plans last week. That, or a temporary attack of insanity on my part.

There we were my husband Charley, son Jeff, and I off on a vacation in Canada while Cate was on her own adventure, wandering our way from Toronto to the Georgian Bay for a relaxing day along a rustic beach, when we saw the high arch of a roller coaster on the near horizon. Next came the sign for ``Canada's Wonderland, this exit,'' and then a whole jumble of looping roller coasters came in to view.

``What do you think?'' Charley asked us.

``Let's go for it,'' Jeff was quick to answer. I gulped out something like ``Sure,'' and we veered into the exit lane for a day of fast rides instead of a day of leisurely meandering.

The first ride we tried was Top Gun, a suspended roller coaster that screamed down steep hills, around two loops, and through a number of corkscrew turns. I'm sure it was great; it's just that I couldn't open my eyes to actually experience more than the feeling of being plastered to the back of my seat with my legs flailing.

Charley and Jeff rode the next coaster by themselves because it was the kind you stand up to ride, and I didn't think that was something humans should actually do. ``Mom's being a wimp,'' Jeff told his father.

Stung by the ``wimp'' remark, I joined them on the next coaster, but I came close to backing out when I saw what it was. For the first part of the ride, the cars were pulled back up an extremely steep incline, then catapulted forward through loops and corkscrews, ending at the top of another nasty- looking hill. Then the cars retraced their route. Backwards.

``I think I'm too old for this,'' I confided to the guys. ``Look at all the people in line. There's not one woman as old as I am.''

``That just means you're hip, Mom,'' Jeff responded. I thought briefly about whether he'd think it was ''hip'' when I got off the ride and threw up all over my shoes. But I made it although my stomach let me know the rest of the afternoon that it did not appreciate relocating to the back of my throat. Despite the fact that I'm fairly sure I will NEVER go on another roller coaster that goes backwards, it was a good day. And since then I've been feeling pretty pleased with myself. Not only did I manage to keep my eyes open on the last loop of the last coaster ride, but I participated in something spontaneous. No more in-a-rut Pam. Why, tomorrow I may sleep in till 6:15. And who knows? Maybe I'll REALLY toss routine to the wind and have Raisin Bran instead of Special K.

Pam Mansell covers New Wilmington for The Herald.