How Life is Like the Log Ride

Kiddieland is closing this year.  If you don’t know, Kiddieland is an amusement park just outside of Chicago that caters to the preschool set.  There is really nothing else like it in the area.  It was built over 80 years ago and has become a generational touchstone for many families in the area.  The rides are old and reflect a bygone era of emerging space travel, but they are still shiny and bright and the best thing going for a 5-year-old.

The park is always packed with a true sea of humanity…young families discovering it for the first time; older couples who had brought their children years ago, now bringing their grandchildren; train enthusiasts looking to ride the antique steam engines.  It’s really a great place. 

Oh, and you can drink all the soda you want. All day. For free! 

We took our 5-year-old twin boys to Kiddieland last week, for probably the last time. This was our third year. We told them this was our last chance to ride all the rides, so we were going to take all day and not miss anything. 

This is the first year they were tall enough for the bumper cars.
We bumped. 

This was the first year they were big enough to ride the Little Dipper roller coaster.
We rolled and coasted. 

This was the first year they were brave enough to ride the Log Ride.
We got in line. 

The trouble with the log ride is the end. And when you are standing in line, that’s what you see. That last drop off a watery cliff. Jack, my little pragmatist, was having none of it, “I don’t want to go off a cliff in a log”.  Henry is more of an adventurer. “Alright. Let’s go.” 

Henry and I got in line. It’s a long line. There’s a lot of time to think and a lot of chances to watch the logs fall of that cliff.
“I think I’m going to scream,” Henry said. “Me, too,” I said.
“There are a lot of big kids for this ride,” Henry said. “Yeah, but a couple of kids look about your age,” I said. 

As we got closer to the front of the line his eyes were growing bigger and the conversation was growing shorter. Finally, our log was empty in front of us. Henry jumped in front and I got in behind him. With a small splash and a little jolt, we floated off. We started out and it was really quite nice. 

“This is fun!” Henry laughed. The log meandered through the water path and occasionally we rocked it and tried to make a splash. Then we saw the conveyer belt going straight up.
“Here we go,” Henry quietly said.
“Here we go,” I repeated.
And, we went.
Up.

When we were almost at the top Henry admitted, “I’m scared.”
“Me, too,” I answered.
“Are you going to close your eyes?” he asked.
“No, I want to see what happens,” I answered.
“Me, too,” he replied. 

Up, up, up, and then…we floated out. No drop, just a little drift in another water path. Henry looked back at me, a little surprised, a little relieved.  Then he looked ahead and saw it.  The cliff. 

Over we went.  Straight down.  I screamed.  Henry screamed.  And then, it was over.  When we hit the big splash at the bottom we looked up and Henry saw his dad and brother waving and cheering.  He took a second to make sure he was alright and then laughed and waved back.  When we got out of the log he confessed “I was going to cry, but then it was over and there wasn’t time to cry.” 

“Did you like the ride?” I asked.
“Yeah, it was the best ride all day!” he answered. 

As with most things in life, there are metaphors everywhere and the log ride got me thinking about the state of the economy and business.  Kiddieland is something we always thought would be there.  It’s always been there.  But, like everything else it seems, this part of our life is changing. 

Sometimes we are going along in life, and everything is just right.  We’re doing our job, we’re living our lives, we understand the situations, we know what to expect and can see the road ahead clearly.  There’s a climb, and it feels good, exciting.  Then we reach the top and maybe there isn’t a crash down.  Maybe you reach the top and just slide down a bit and continue to roll along.  But, eventually, there will be a cliff and you’re log will go over.

So, what are you going to do on that cliff? 

Hopefully you have seen that cliff coming for quite a while and have readied yourself for it.  But even if you have prepared, it will still be quite a ride.  So, you can either close your eyes and wait for it to be over or you can open your eyes, take it all in, and hold tight to that log all the way down.  Scream a little, laugh a little, try to rock the log and make splash when you can.  And, hopefully, when it’s over you’ve just had the best ride of the day and there wasn’t any time to cry.

Tags: kiddieland, log ride, Nicole Flynn

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 10:35 pm and is filed under Mixed Nuts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.