Carnie rides

I have a child who LOVES rides. She loves the carnival, and the more rickey and dangerous it seems, the more she wants to ride it. I also have a kid that's just a l-i-t-t-l-e too short for most of the ones she wants to ride and some of them require an adult or "responsible person" to ride with her. I love rides too - at least, I used to. Seems like the older I get, the less daring I'm willing to be. Carnie rides are especially scary because they just don't look secure. Also, when you're riding side by side with a small child, they are left a little exposed because while the belt or bar might be tight on you, it doesn't come near their tiny waist. I find myself hanging on to Addison. I'm not sure if it's my fear that she'll go flying out (I don't always trust science), or if I'm just holding on to her out of my own terror.
Yesterday we took her to the carnival at Ascension in Kettering. We get on this ride that she called the egg ride. Basically, it's like an open pod suspended from the top and it has two little seats facing each other. There's a wheel in the middle that you can turn around (think tea cup ride) while you're flying around in a circle. This ride was not made for adults and the only way she could ride it was with an adult. I approached this ride very uncertain. We even watched it first. I was hoping she'd change her mind, but alas, she did not. Greg can't do spinny rides - so I'm stuck doing it. Not only is the pod tiny, the seat belt wasn't coming close to buckling. A small teenager - maybe. A grown adult woman? No way. The guy just says "hang on". I imagined he'd walk back and get some kind of extender or something...but no, he actually meant hang on. The ride started and I didn't want to take my hands off the pole in the middle, let alone twirl the damn thing around. What the hell? I am literally flying around unsecured. Granted, it might have been more like a swing but when you're faced with your head possibly being planted in the ground or a sea of people, you're not really thinking logically. Addison loved this ride, but I was glad to get off. Next ride was a rocket ship. Come on people. If you're over 5 feet tall, this ride is too short! I'm by far not a tall person, and this ride was nearly too short for me. I spend a lot of time on rides like this just trying to figure out where to fold my legs into so that I don't lose feeling in them and can safely get off when it stops without falling on my face or getting a limb stuck. These rides need to quit saying adults can ride, when they really can't. Just make them more secure for little people to ride themselves. There was one a few weeks ago that we went on that went super fast and I was literally pressing my body in by pushing my feet firmly at the front of the car. My legs hurt so bad when I got off. How am I always the one stuck riding these things with her? So, we went on a few more rides and there was a big ride that she wanted to go on. No signs anywhere with a height restriction and I saw other small-ish kids, so they went to go on and they said she was too short. What a disappointment. She really, really wanted to ride. Next year for sure I think she'll be big enough for more rides. She's a daredevil! So, she spent the rest of her tickets going down the big slide. We had a great time, but am I getting too old for this? Yeesh.

What's your name again?

I have this disease that causes people’s names to leave my brain as soon as I see their face. When I think of a person, I can recall what they look like and immediately remember their name. But when I’m face-to-face with them, it’s like my brain goes blank and the name escapes me. I tried to be brave and conquer this by vowing to purposefully call a person by their name when they speak to me. This should help right? I’ve read that it’s a technique people use to remember new people’s names. Well, not when you have too long of a pause before you say their name and not when your brain gives you the wrong name. A person passing in the hall says, “Hi Christie!”. I say, “Hi - - - - Kkkkathy!” to a Karen. I even tried associations. There’s a guy named Lincoln. So I think, okay – when I see this guy, I have to remember he’s named after a city and a president. I should be able to remember now. I have 2 things to reference him to. So, he comes by and says hello and I want badly to call him Jackson. I know it’s not right, but by the time I try to remember BOTH the place AND the president, too much time has gone by. I've had that person who looks at me blankly everytime we've met like it's the first time and ask me "Who are you, again?" or "Do you work here?". After 5 or 6 times I start to wonder if I'm so forgettable. I don't want to be that person. Plus it seems a little, I dunno, like dementia or something.

I’ve given up. I won’t even try anymore. Save myself the utter embarrassment. It’s not that I don’t know you – I just can’t remember the name that goes with you. So if I see you and you say hi to me, don’t assume I don’t know your name, just remember that I won’t say it. I might know, I might not. No one will be any the wiser.

Maybe I need some kind of trademark hello like a wink and a point so it’s not so obvious. Maybe that suck of air between your teeth that makes the click sound would round it out nicely. I’ll try that.