"Hold On Shauna, Hold On!"

     by Shauna V. Brown

     For years and years my family attended the annual ward Lagoon day. Pretty much it was a time for families to enjoy the discounted entrance price and give-aways.We all enjoyed the fun house and all the whirly rides, cotton candy, and especially the old rickity roller coaster. Lagoon’s famous wooden roller coaster “Roller Coaster - Coaster” was designed by John Miller of Coney Island fame. The coaster was constructed in 1921. It is the 7th oldest roller Coaster in the world and the oldest roller coaster in the Western United States.   

    So here’s my story for today. Years ago my mother shared with me her first experience riding on the now world famous roller coaster - coaster.  It so terrified her that she said she nearly wore out her kid gloves (Gripping it so tightly). As she told  the story it was easy to visualize her fears and imagine her vocal pleading with her Heavenly Father to return her ‘safely.’  She shared how she  made a promise with God that she would never ride that coaster again. In all my growing up I never saw her ride it. To all my knowledge she was true to her word and promise.

   When my mother was eighty Rick and I invited her to go with us and our family to Lagoon.  Even when our young children tried to coax her to riding the wooden coaster, she issued, ‘I promised I would never ride it again.’  

     Mother and I slid onto the bench on the ferris wheel . She was quick to point out how Lagoon had changed over the years.  Where some of the old rides had been located, how the area had been a lagoon with water. There had once been a fire and most of the park had been destroyed. They had worked hard to save the Merry-go-round. If her memory held right she thought it was around 1950.That is when the roller coaster was painted white - because of the smoke and fire damage. 

      I showed her some of the new rides that the children loved, the Boomerange, Colossus, and we observed from our vantage point plenty of people enjoying them. We could hear screams of delight and those of sudden fear.  I asked,“Wanna go on the ‘Jet Star’  with me, almost in jest. Her response was quite surprising. 

  “Sure!” 

I kept thinking to myself - this ride has got to be twice as scary as the old roller coaster. I thought she wouldn’t ride it. But equally as true to her word- we went. We stood in line and waited for our turn. It wasn’t difficult to observe the quick dips, turns and accelerations. We could even see the fear on the faces as they screamed past us, as rolling wheels clanked and coaster cars zoomed.

    I was almost ready for her to chicken out, but to my surprise she stepped in the car bucket.  I fit snuggly infront of her.  I can still hear her scream in my ears and feel her belly jiggle as she coached me loudly, “Hold on Shauna --Hold on!” 

We banked, rolled and looped and felt the intense G- force. Her hands were firmly gripping the side of the car. "Hold on Shauna, hold on." There is something that naturally induces one to laughter, and by the end of the ride we were both laughing so hard that neither one of us could get out of the cockpit.  We both tried our best to get out, each taking a turn. But somehow in all the zigging accelerations, and gravity, we were stuck. 

People in the line waiting were losing their patience with the white haired, eighty year old woman and her forty year old daughter who remained seated and holding up the ride. Despite all, we continued to laugh at our predicament.            

The attendent quickly extended his hand, “Let me help you out!” He couldn’t do it and motioned for another young man to come and help. Talk about embarrassment. Mother answered, “ I can’t get out,” she grinned, “I’m stuck.”  With a push and pull and the assistance on both sides of the car we were able to finally get off the ride -- red faced, but giggling all the way. 

Then I asked her the question, “Did you brake your promise to God about riding on a roller coaster?”

      “I promised that I wouldn’t ride on that old wooden roller coaster," she said pointing to the old rickety wooden one, “but boy didn't we have a fun ride?”

      That is a treasure of a memory for me. I don’t believe Mama ever did ride another roller coaster in her lifetime. But the key element of this story are the words mother extended in loud tones over and over through the ups and downs, tight curves and sudden drops.  “Hold on Shauna, Hold on.”

       Isn’t that what it is all about---  Holding on to life and life’s experiences?  There are those times that can literally take your breath away. Moments when a sudden giggle errupts out of no where, only to make you smile. There are times when you think you have run out of track and no where else to go, only to discover there is hand reaching out to lift you. There are guaranteed ups and downs to give you the ride of a lifetime. I know there are moments when we all wish to get off the hectic, frightening, unknown, seemingly never ending ride and toss all the tickets back. 

    I have long admired Corrie Ten Boom who said it best: 

When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark,

  you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. 

You sit still and trust the engineer. 

    All right, so it took a couple of men to pry me and my mother out of the vehicle. I’m sure she is giggling on the other side...with the thought of it still to this day. There was a great sense of relief felt when we didn’t have to rely on the use of a blowtorch or the jaws- of -life. We think we probably would have made the Deseret News for sure. It was so funny.  

    The Beatles wrote the song: 

   He’s got a ticket to ride...and so do we.  It’s only good for one ride on earth. So we must all learn to trust in the Lord.  Lean on the Lord, and understand He knows the curves, the ups and downs as well as the contrary forces.  I have listened and heard the same words as Mama used that day at Lagoon, “Hold on Shauna, hold on.”

Enjoy your sabbath!

Love Shauna