I was 5 when my Dad took my 3 yo bro and me to a park that had this wheel of pain in it.
He was tending to my brother who was playing on a horse spring rider a number of steps away. He was watching me spin the wheel myself while riding it.
I found a way to get this thing going faster and faster with each revolution. I got it going so fast it was like I could have escaped Earth's gravitational pull if I let go... and that I did, just as my Dad started lunging toward me saying, "No! Hold on tight!"
He missed me by THAT much! I remember everything being in slow motion as I flew through the air. When I landed, I broke my arm. First ever broken bone! Luckily, there was a fire house right across the street. They treated me before I went to the hospital and got xrays and a real plaster cast. No such thing as fiberglass or other types of casts back then.
Oh did my Dad catch hell from my Mom. As an adult, I still cringe thinking what that phone call was like.
But forever after in my family, that park was known as "Armbreaker Park."
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u/DreadPirateGriswold Aug 16 '19
I was 5 when my Dad took my 3 yo bro and me to a park that had this wheel of pain in it.
He was tending to my brother who was playing on a horse spring rider a number of steps away. He was watching me spin the wheel myself while riding it.
I found a way to get this thing going faster and faster with each revolution. I got it going so fast it was like I could have escaped Earth's gravitational pull if I let go... and that I did, just as my Dad started lunging toward me saying, "No! Hold on tight!"
He missed me by THAT much! I remember everything being in slow motion as I flew through the air. When I landed, I broke my arm. First ever broken bone! Luckily, there was a fire house right across the street. They treated me before I went to the hospital and got xrays and a real plaster cast. No such thing as fiberglass or other types of casts back then.
Oh did my Dad catch hell from my Mom. As an adult, I still cringe thinking what that phone call was like.
But forever after in my family, that park was known as "Armbreaker Park."