Some lessons are never learned…

Let us take another trip in Mr. Peabody’s “Wabac Machine.” Not to age of the ancient Greeks or to the building of the pyramids in Egypt but back to a time even more memorable. Let’s travel back a year ago to Jeffery’s birthday. We decided to do something different for him and take him, our grandson George and his Cousin Emily to Williamsburg to visit the water park and “Busch Gardens.” This was a change from our usual birthday trip to “King’s Dominion.” Why the change you might ask? Anyone? Please? Anyone?? I’m so glad you asked. Besides the need for us to alter the routine for Jeffery and encourage him to embrace change, we had never been to “Busch Gardens” before so it was a win-win…or so we thought.

We had such grandiose plans. We would go to “Busch Gardens” for one day, follow that up the next morning with the water park and finish the day with another trip to “Busch Gardens” that evening. It was sheer brilliance. Everyone thought so…as long as everyone is my wife and me. It started out fine. We got to the park (later than we had planned but, but hey…it’s us!) and decided to start out with a water ride. A nice leisurely float down a winding track soon became a torrential flood of water being dumped upon us. What? A water ride where you can get wet?? Who knew?? OK, put your hands down. Where were you earlier when I asked about change? We came out more than a little wet but luckily for us, they had what they called a family dryer. I immediately pictured our family climbing into a huge tub being bounced around. Sounds painful. In actuality, it is a large cubicle with blowers and a sun lamp to somewhat dry you. Basically it warms you up enough so you forget that your clothes are still wet. Clever.

It was then time to ride a roller coaster, which is the main draw for Jeffery at any park. Do you have a ride that offers the appearance of possible life altering danger? “Sign me up!” Jeffery declares. “Give me your dangerous, your death defying, your huddled masses, daring to fly free.” In the meantime, I’m looking for the Dramamine and hoping to just survive. So we go on the ride and fortunately everyone who went on the ride came off. I call that a victory. Jeffery called that a good start. So we are looking at the map trying to decide which is the next steel monster to offer our human sacrifices to when one of our reoccurring mistakes rears it’s ugly head. It starts to rain. Not a full fledged “gully washer” but a steady rain that eventually cause the park to suspend all rides. DOH! Unfortunately for us, the rain kept coming down and it appeared that these rides would not be resuming anytime soon.

The problem, as always, was that Jeffery did not agree with the concept of roller coasters shutting down just because of a little rain and the threat of lightning. As we walked through the park, slowly winding our way to the exits, he pointed at every roller coaster we passed: “Roller Coaster, please Daddy. Roller Coaster please, Mommy.” Thankfully, Jeffery has matured to the point that he no longer has complete meltdowns. Another possibility is we have learned over the years how to mediate these issues in a way that he can comprehend. Yeah, let’s go with THAT! We explained that the rides were not working at this time and we would have to come back tomorrow so that he could ride more roller coasters. Jeffery works well with lists so we broke it down like that so he could accept it. “First, home. Then Dinner. Then shower. Then bedtime. Then breakfast. Then shower. Then water park. Then roller coasters.” That was a long list, but he he has a gift to remember such things and don’t make the mistake of thinking that he will forget the deal you have just made. Throughout the evening he repeated the many clauses of the contract proffered to him. “First, home. Then Dinner. Then shower. Then bedtime. Then breakfast. Then shower. Then water park. Then roller coasters.” Perry Mason would have been proud.

The morning came and just in case you were deluded to think he had forgotten what day it was, as soon as his eyes opened, it began: “First, breakfast. Then shower. Then water park. Then roller coasters.” He knows how to adjust the list to accommodate for the events that have been completed. The recitation continued as each step was checked off. This time the weather cooperated and the water park was greatly appreciated as it was very hot. So we had this situation under control. We were ON IT! All except for one mis-calculation…we thought that Busch Gardens was open until 10:00pm. With that in mind, we walked around the water park with no thought of expediency or time use. By the time we finally decided to wrap it up, we thought we would go home first, go for the last few hours at Busch Gardens, let Jeffery get his roller coaster fix and come out as heroes! Yay US! For some reason, only when we got home did we think to confirm when the park closed. 9:00 pm. “RUH ROH!”

We gathered everyone together in record time (for us) and drove as quickly as we could to the park. We checked our watches and we had all of 45 minutes. The problem was that the roller coaster Jeffery really wanted to ride was on the other side of the park and I do mean the furthest reaches of the park. We grabbed Jeffery and started on a high speed trek across the park to make sure we reached the designated ride in time (allowing for the line you would have to wait in). A couple of side notes here: Massive Kudos to our Grandson George who is 8 years old and could have made a major issue about not getting to go on rides he wanted. He was a real trooper and although he opted out of the roller coaster Jeffery wanted, he was supportive all the way. I was so proud of him. A Purple Heart goes to my wife who scrambled across the park with torn Achilles and bone spurs (since surgically repaired) but would not allow that to stop her from getting our son to his destination. She is and always has been, my hero. So we arrived to the roller coaster in question and as I looked up at this monstrosity, one thought came crystal clear…NO WAY I am getting on that. Since Georgie (in a move that demonstrates his intelligence) declined the honor, and Emily decided that as a 15 year old, she had her whole life ahead of her. Why end it now. That left Mom to once again to take the mantle of courage and go with Jeffery on the roller coaster of death. Up the long ladder they went, and as I watched other riders go by, I wondered if I would see my wife and son again.🤔 No worries, as they came off just fine and just in time as the park was getting ready to close.

As we walked, and I do mean w-a-l-k-e-d our way back across the park, Jeffery still asked about other coasters but he was apparently satisfied that our contract was fulfilled. So what is the moral of this story? For us, some lessons are never learned.