Memories at Lagoon

It was always such a memorable time for me when Aunt Jeannie would visit. We loved her and the lasting impressions she made on our lives. She was very easy to converse with and always displayed the upmost care and compassion to me and my family. There are a few memories that I distinctly remember. One year we went to Lagoon the amusement park together. As a child, it fascinated me to see how afraid of heights she was. I often wondered how she was able to travel by plane. The "Sky Ride" was one of the rides she would avoid, mostly because it travels slowly across the park about 60 ft. in the air much like a ski lift. She would insist that she was fine to travel the park without help getting on the moving lift. Once it was her turn to get on the lift, she would stand in the designated boarding location only to run back in line and miss the seat at the last minute.  After a few times of this, the ride operators then assumed it was the moving motion of the ride that intimidated her so they stopped the lift so she could sit down successfully. After much persuasion and convincing her she'd be safe, and a little coaxing, she obliged to ride. On the ride, I would turn and look behind me beyond the last two chairs she missed, and notice her facial determination to not look down, or anywhere really except straight ahead. Once the lift reached the full 60 feet, the temptation to look elsewhere was just too much and she would close her eyes as tight as she could until we descended safely to the ground.
On a separate occasion that also took place at Lagoon, my parents, Jeannie, Zach and I were standing in line for the "Para-Trooper" ride or as Jeannie called it the umbrella ride. Like the others, this ride has a queue line with iron guard rails each about 10 inches apart until you reach the final entrance gate. As we were waiting, we noticed Zach had somehow managed to put his head through one of the spaces of the guard railing and thought it was pretty neat. Jeannie noticed, chuckled a bit and asked him "Zach what the hell are you doing? Get your head out of there!" As Zach turned and smiled, no longer willing to risk getting stuck, decided he would immediately attempt to remove his head from the railing space. To his disbelief, the only way to completely remove his head would be to cut off his ears. We all laughed in amusement until Zach's facial expression went from humorous to sheer panic. Unable to free himself, we helplessly watched him turn and bob his head back and forth harder and harder against the unforgiving iron rail hoping somehow that would work. Once we realized the seriousness of the matter Jeannie asked him, "Well Zach, what the hell did you do that for"? Trying to assist, she explored many options to help remove his head such as looking for butter only to notice there was none in any of our pockets. She looked at my dad and strictly appointed him to help Zach out and to stop laughing. After a long struggle, my dad was then able to pry the bars with his hands just enough to allow Zach's head to escape safely.