YOU CAN RELIVE FIRST-TIME THRILLS AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT!

New Year snow in Phoenix

Lady Brd Johnson once said: “When I no longer thrill to the first snow of the season, then I’ll know I am growing old.”

But I refuse to grow old and we don’t even have such a season in Phoenix where I live. So my husband and I were ecstatic when, at a New Year’s Eve Party somewhere north of Phoenix, snow suddenly fell! That was three years ago when I was just sixty-seven. Does that mean I am now too old to look for first-time thrills like that? It isn’t age that matters, not even the place. The only thing that matters is if you want to experience it again and again. In fact, I encounter such opportunities more frequently when I travel.  

Somebody once said, “If it excites you and scares you at the same time, then it probably means you should do it.” That’s exactly how I felt when we drove our RV over Dempster Highway to the Arctic Circle in Yukon, Canada. We actually passed up the first opportunity to do so from Fairbanks, Alaska on Dalton Highway which is even shorter and better. I had just waited all night for the Northern Lights to appear, all in futility. Extremely disappointed, I was itching for a different thrill that day.\

Tombstone Territorial Park, Yukon, Canada

Of course, my husband obliged. We left Dawson City, excited with the prospect of going as far north as we could but scared that our very old Class C motorhome would not withstand the rigors of the road. It was dirt gravel for hours. We forgot all those worries when we witnessed the unique fall spectacle, way up there. First, it was the trees and shrubs that increasingly grew shorter but continued to be bright red, orange, and gold. Then, in the alpine tundra around the Tombstone Territorial Park, it became an autumnal carpet of lichens and fungi that hugged the landscape. Finally, we had our triumphant scene, albeit shivering, in that quiet windy spot.

Just two months later I was also euphoric in accomplishing the one thing I had never been able to do throughout my childhood. We had traveled to visit my sister in Falls Church, Virginia. At the windy Virginia Beach, my husband encouraged and guided me to fly my first-ever kite. We were, however, so preoccupied that there is no photo taken of that moment. But, when we chanced upon the World Kite Museum at Long Beach, Washington, I felt more entitled to enjoy the place. Unfortunately,  however, I am still struggling to find ways to be able to ride a bike or to swim with ease.

West Edmonton Mall's World Water Park

Four years later, I was privileged enough to feel the thrill again at the World Waterpark inside the world’s fourth-largest shopping center, the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. There was an intermediate water slide called Corkscrew which has two completely enclosed slides that twist, turn and drop into a splash 1.2 m. pool. I only play in 3-feet-deep water, mind you. My encouraging husband promised he will be at the end of the big pipe, ready to rescue me from any mishap.

Corkscrew

That’s all I needed. As I cascaded down, I was deathly afraid, especially when it got so dark, I felt so alone, and I didn’t know if I will drown in the pool. But, when I came out of the pipe, my husband was right there, waiting for me. He immediately cuddled me in his arms, saying: “See how easy and fun it is?” I was all smiles and thanked him profusely for another trophy in my life. He was again my hero. Admittedly, he has been the key in my getting more first times; in fact, in also simply traveling more.

There have been many other firsts, and there will be more. However, as 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 until the day I die!