Roller Coasters

The first couple of weeks after Erica passed away I felt like I was on an emotional roller coaster.  One minute I would be somewhat composed and the next a grief stricken mess.  If you've ever been to Six Flags Over Texas it was like riding the "Shock Wave" a couple of steep climbs followed by a couple of loops upside down.  It has been forty-six days since we lost Erica.  My emotional roller coaster ride is a little easier.  I would relate it to "The Judge Roy Scream," featured in my blog photo.  I still have some steep climbs but, the upside down loops have disappeared.  My emotions are leveling out and I feel like I can cope with the grief better than before.

The Judge Roy Scream

I want to point out the significance of the roller coasters I used in my analogy of my grief.  My parents would take our family almost every year to Six Flags Over Texas.  Erica LOVED roller coasters, the faster the better.  When she was little she was too short to ride The Judge Roy Scream, and she cried and cried because she wanted to ride it.  The next year she had grown and there was no stopping her.  She road that roller coaster over and over.  During one trip in the fall we got lucky and the line to the Shock Wave was very short.  Erica and I road that roller coaster at least ten times that day.  She would run through the line to beat me, so she could pick where we sat.  She liked the front of the roller coaster, I preferred the middle.  She was a little daredevil.  When I think of roller coasters, I think of Erica.  I'll never forget the great times we shared together as a family.

Life is a roller coaster. Sometimes you're at the top of the hill feeling good. Other times your heading for the bottom feeling totally out of control. Life is full of things that are hard to handle, but you can get through them.

                               ~ Reggie Dabbs