CONQUERING FEARS

My family went on a cruise last week. With two teenagers, it’s the perfect vacation for us…plenty to do, relatively safe surroundings, sun and plenty of places to sit and tan and relax. For one week, we did all that. I returned last night a whole lot tanner, a whole lot more relaxed, and with a whole lot of laundry to do.

The highlight of the trip was an all day excursion called ‘Conquering Your Fears’. It involved hanging from a zip line in the Costa Rican jungle, followed by lunch and then hanging on for dear life while white water rafting.

No, this wasn’t my choice.

For some reason, I gave birth to two children who have no fears when it comes to either heights or deep water with big rocks in it. Nope, when it comes to excitement and fun, they’re my husband’s kids, through and through. At 7am, when we boarded the bus, they were all smiles. I looked longingly at the group of people off to study sloths.

First up, the zip-line. After outfitting us with helmets, liability forms, and a whole lot of hooks and cords, our group climbed a rather narrow, steep path to a platform. Then, one by one, we were hooked onto the zip line, given instructions how to slow down, and told to jump. Yeah. Being the good mother that I am, I made my kids go first. My husband, knowing me as well as he does, made me go before him.

I jumped and sped along the line, doing my best not to scream so I wouldn’t embarrass my 14 year old. I was never so happy to see the platform and the cute Costa Rican with arms outstretched, ready to grab me and pull me back to solid ground. But, no, it wasn’t over. I had to do it all over again six more times.

Whitewater rafting wasn’t much better. Oh, I’ve rafted before on the Colorado River. Somehow, though, it’s a whole lot different when we were subjected to an hour and fifteen minutes of class II and III rapids and monkeys laughing at us from the trees. Lucky for me, they had a guy taking pictures in a nearby kayak.

Now we have lots of memories of me holding on for dear life while trying not to scream.

Ten hours later, we boarded the ship just before we left beautiful Costa Rica. My husband, being the good guy that he is, let me use the shower first, handed me a drink, and told me he heard Baked Alaska was on the menu for dinner. For the first time all day, I smiled.

Did I conquer my fears? No, not really. I jumped and clung and closed my eyes and prayed. I experienced things I know I’ll never forget. And I told my family that they should never, ever doubt how much I loved them…because I wouldn’t have done that day for anyone else. And my kids and husband, God bless them, said the day wouldn’t have been the same without me. Hearing that, as they say….was priceless.