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| New Year snow in Phoenix |
Lady Byrd
Johnson once said: “When I no longer thrill to the first snow of the season,
then I’ll know I am growing old.” That will never happen because I refuse to
grow old and it doesn’t snow in Phoenix. But at a New Year’s Eve Party
somewhere north of Phoenix, my husband and I experienced the impossible. Snow
fell! That was a decade ago and it hasn’t happened again, but I remember the
thrill we both felt.
I love
first-time thrills like that and always look for more because age does not
matter. Just be open to experiencing the rare, the unexpected, and even the
scary. Somebody said, “If it excites and scares you at the same time, then it
probably means you should do it.” It will give you a first-time thrill.
Exciting and
Scary
At Yukon’s Dawson
City, I had waited all night for the Northern Lights to appear only to be disappointed.
My doting husband knew he had to find a way to perk me up. He decided to drive
to the Arctic Circle on the Dempster Highway. We had passed up the opportunity
to do it from Fairbanks, Alaska on the shorter and better Dalton Highway. He
was afraid our old Class C motorhome might not make the remote dirt gravel road
because there was only one stop on the way that could help just in case.
Soon, the unique
fall spectacle unfolded before our very eyes. The trees and shrubs grew shorter;
it turned into a brighter red, orange, and gold alpine tundra. The landscape
became an autumnal carpet of lichens and fungi that hugged the Tombstone
Territorial Park. We were shivering in that quiet cold windy spot, but it was
well worth the drive! I may stil not have seen the Northern Lights (saw them later on another trip to Anchorage) but I got an even better thrill!
Difficult and Untried
Just two
months later I did one thing I had never been able to do throughout my
childhood. The Philippines would have been a great place to do it but I thought
it was difficult for a wimp like me. We had traveled to visit my sister in
Falls Church, Virginia. At nearby and windy Virginia Beach, my husband succeeded
in guiding me to fly my first-ever kite. It was so thrilling that we forgot to
take a photo.
A few months
later we had to return to the West Coast. My new kite-flying prowess allowed me
to enjoy two towns more than I could ever have done. I loved the World Kite
Museum and Hall of Fame in Long Beach, Washington. In Seaside, Oregon, we
chanced upon the World Kite Festival and were privileged to see outdoor and
indoor competitions.
I still must
learn to ride a bike, however. And I don’t mean the one at the gym.
Fun but Risky
A year
later, I experienced that first-time thrill again at the World Waterpark inside
the fourth-largest shopping center, the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada. Corkscrew was its intermediate water slide with two enclosed pipes
that twist, turn, and drop into a wide splash pool. I have never learned to
swim and water deeper than three feet scares me.
But my
husband promised he’d be there waiting for me at the end. That was all I
needed. As I cascaded down, I was deathly afraid, especially when it got dark. I
felt so alone and thought I would drown in the pool when I came out. But, when
I did, there was my husband! He cuddled me in his arms, saying: “See how easy
and fun it is?” Yes, he gave me another trophy in life.
There have
been many other firsts, and I hope there will be more, even as I get older. One
key is to have a cheerleader by your side. That was my husband. However, a certain Steven White once said: “If
at first, you don’t succeed, then skydiving definitely isn’t for you.” I will,
therefore, exclude skydiving from my pursuit of first-time thrills!