Picture It

Since I don't have digital pictures to post for you guys yet, I'll describe one for you.

Back in May, when I went to visit J & L in Texas, we took a couple days in San Antonio. They have a Sea World there. Did you know Sea World has roller coasters? Yep. I hadn't been on one in maybe 15 years, but I remembered liking them, so I was up for it. J was totally psyched -- being a pilot, heights and speed don't scare him too much.

They scare me.

Naturally, J wanted to sit in the front seats of the front car. OK. That was a popular spot, so we had to wait a while to get on. This gave me lots of time to get nervous. I'm not a big talker, but I couldn't shut up, saying, "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this." So we get on. And up we go -- click, click, click, click, up that torturous track that gives you a view of how far you'd fall if you did, in fact, fall, which you know could totally happen. In addition to not being a talker, I'm not touchy-feely, but I grabbed J's arm as we crested the summit of that first big climb, and I screamed all the way down.

After that, I was fine. Arms up in the air, big smile, it's all good.

But this is about a picture, isn't it? Yeah. They have cameras for these rides. I had forgotten that.

My brother remembered.

Not only did he remember the camera, he knew where it was. And not only did he know where it was (bottom of the first drop, of course!), he had the presence of mind, halfway down that drop, to hatch a plan. So when we get off the ride, I'm surprised and J is delighted to find the following: A shot of me, mouth wide open, face distorted by fear and G-forces; and him, grinning right into the camera and pointing at me. I was appalled at my appearance, but that quickly gave way to acceptance that it was way too funny not to buy.

We gave it to Dad as a Father's Day gift.