Emily Ann Imes (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
memorialrainbow) wrote2011-06-19 02:56 pm
memorialrainbow) wrote2011-06-19 02:56 pm
Entry tags:
061911 -- The Light Meets The Dark
It's so warm in here on days like today. I still don't want to do this whole work thing, but when I reminded myself that my copy of Revolve was there, I perked up.
It's Father's Day now. Mom says I have family stuff to do on Thursday, but that won't be so bad, even though I have to miss Fairhaven. I'm at the 'rents, trying to finish my book(s).
I ran into Katie Grigsby at the theater the other day, when I met up with Jesse to go see Mr. Popper's Penguins. (It's adorable, by the way. Jesse squealed throughout the entire thing.) Seeing her again made me laugh -- I told her I had been at the Point, and she had to have a jolt to her memory as to why I like Cedar Point so much.
You see, Katie was there the first time I went to the Point.
I've told this story many times before, but I'd like to tell it in a way that makes sense. It finally came together when I told it to Nikki at the Point yesterday (that was just yesterday!). I know that there are more personal details that some people will know (I do have a private blog that is reserved -- if you're reading this, you most likely don't want to know about it), but being there for the past couple of days made me realize just how important that God has made the Point in my life. It's more than just a 'vacation home.' What it is, I'm not sure I'll ever know.
This is just the story of two times at one amusement park that God has used me. As a background before I tell my first story, for those of you who don't know me: found God at 11, fell out with him, started doing what I wanted to, gave it up to him on June 28, 2005, at which point He started sowing seeds for this whole roller coaster thing. On July 16, 2005 -- now considered the HyperSong New Year -- he drilled his lesson home at Kings Island. It was soon after that when my youth group announced a trip to the Point -- a place I had never been before.
To start off, let's begin with the academic version of how things happened. I wrote this paper back in February of 2006, back when I was in high school. We had to write four papers for class, and the third could be on whatever we wanted it to be on. I picked this -- my first trip to Cedar Point, which took place on August 16, 2005.
The old school bus bumped along the road as we headed north towards our destination. I closed my eyes, waiting. Before embarking on our destination, the driver, also our youth pastor, told us the trip would take three hours. We were only an hour into our trip and I was bored.
My youth group was headed to Sandusky, Ohio, to visit an amusement park; Cedar Point to be exact. Unlike many of the other kids who were on the bus, this would be my first time at Cedar Point. I had joined up with my friend, Lauren, and a pair of red-haired sisters, Megan and Katie, who would show me around the park. I did not know what exactly to expect, but I had visited another amusement park the previous month, and knew I would easily fall asleep that night with a serious case of vertigo.
Little did I know how real the case would be as we arrived on the peninsula that held the park. We climbed out of the bus, taking everything with us, and I met up with my friends as we entered the park.
I quickly realized that Cedar Point had nowhere near enough park maps; the only place you could get one was the entrance. As I grabbed my park map, Lauren, Katie, and Megan pulled me towards the first roller coaster. Through a period of about two hours, we waited in line for three coasters, riding each one. As we climbed on one of the coasters, I could feel the excitement building inside of me. Inside, it felt good to be back in an amusement park, but I wasn’t sure why...yet.
After that, we stopped in a pizza place to have some food before we embarked on our next coaster. I paid for the food, instructing the girls to order water to drink in order to save money (a trick I learned from working in the food business). After we left, we headed toward one more roller coaster, which was near the tallest coaster in the park, Top Thrill Dragster.
The other girls were too chicken to ride this ride, and I did not want to wait in line, but as we walked past, I stopped the others for a minute, anxious and curious. I wanted to watch the coaster launch. Before I could blink, it did, speeding past at breakneck speeds, mounting a huge curve in the sky and then returning to the earth as fast as it had left. I merely stared, rooted to my spot. While we waited in line for the next coaster, I watched Top Thrill Dragster run a few more times, often holding up the line in doing so because I was so entranced.
The day continued with more fun events. Megan and Katie insisted on riding a few water rides, which resulted in the rest of us getting soaked. After that incident, we rode a huge swing ride, which made the other three girls laugh when I dripped water the entire time. Lauren insisted on taking the four of us on her favorite roller coaster. Then, Katie wanted to ride the Ferris wheel. Her reasoning was that she wanted a romantic ride in the sunset, but we insisted that would not happen because, simply, there were no members of the opposite gender to be found.
Finally, we tried to squeeze one more ride in, but the park began to close. The youth group had to meet at the front of the park; my group found ourselves situated in the back with no time to waste. We began to sprint towards the front of the park, but for a second in time, as we passed Top Thrill Dragster, I stopped, looking back at it and watching it launch one last time.
It was then that I realized why I was so hooked on the coaster, and the other coasters of the park as well: because of the speed it had, topping a hundred and twenty miles an hour. Back home, I was just a girl who seemed outgoing on the outside, but was really shy on the inside and did not feel like she could do much of anything. In a place like Cedar Point, however, I could truly fly, thanks to rides such as Top Thrill Dragster. It was then that, since I did not get the chance to ride, I vowed to return to Cedar Point and ride Top Thrill Dragster...and in promising that to myself, I seemed to give myself a drive inside of me, one that I would not realize until much later. This drive, however, would fuel my desires and truly propel me to ‘race for the sky.’
And I fully intend on returning to do so.
That's all mostly true. Mostly.
When we were running back toward the front of the park, at ten o'clock, right when the park was closed -- that's where the story diverges a bit. I'm not a runner by any stretch of the imagination, so I'm sure I looked like an idiot as I thundered down the midways in my tennis shoes, everything going everywhere. Ten o'clock...that was the time we had to be back at the front of the park. Which meant that Megan and I had to run to get there on time, as we were obviously late.
I remember thinking as I was running -- about my dad, more specifically. Earlier that same year, in July, after my trip to Kings Island, he had chided me again for my art. My answer had been to stop creating entirely. Three days of reading Memoirs of a Geisha and learning how to do sudoku later, my mother smacked me upside the head and told me to stop being a dork. I had talked to Megan, that night at the Point, about my creative ideas. What if I could get free of what was expected of me?
To be free...to be able to fly like that... I remember thinking those exact same words.
What happened next I cannot explain. I'm not even sure I can pinpoint it anymore, it's been so long ago. But the way I remember it, it was like there was a light inside of my heart, inside of my soul, and for the first time, it exploded. It filled everything inside of me, and it felt like my feet were no longer running against the ground, but on air. I ran for about five seconds, then stopped, out of breath, and heard the launch near me.
I knew that coaster. The same one that raced for the sky, that did exactly what I wanted to do.
When I found my way to the carousel, where we were supposed to meet up, I knew something was different. I tied my shoe. What was that? I still couldn't keep my eyes off of that coaster. Back then, I didn't know, but now, I know a lot better. It was God who imprinted on me that night. God who showed me a new way to worship Him. I was overwhelmed with His spirit, knowing that this place was important (and I still don't get why!).
After August 16, I promised myself I would go back and ride that coaster...then became obsessed with it. I had a falling out my freshman year at Miami, second semester, but found my way back into God's arms with the help of my new friends (and the Lost Magnum incident -- which I'm sure I'll remind everybody of at a later point in time). I didn't ride Top Thrill again until 2008, upon which I got my rollback...as if God was erasing my self-focused history and starting me anew.
The way I remember August 16...it's the same exact feeling I got during the Midnight Rave. Except I wasn't running.
The day I refer to as the Midnight Rave was on July 16, 2010 -- again the New Year, but a coincidence, I'm sure. In between my rollback in 2008 and the Midnight Rave, things got rougher. No details, but the people who have been with me know what they need to know. It was pretty bad.
I didn't have a pass in 2010 -- too complicated -- but God arranged for me to go up to the Point as part of a radio broadcast. That meant I was a special guest at the Point -- I got to be the annoying person who cuts in line and sits in the front row of EVERYTHING. Dylan was new back then -- he came with me, and I'm glad he did.
The real fun happened after the broadcast -- we relaxed for a while, got a nap as I had gotten no sleep (kept staring out the window all night, not believing my luck that Millennium Force is right outside my window), and then we went to the Dollar Tree. I had an idea. I knew that, usually, at Raptor and Millennium Force's queue lines late at night, they play a good mix of Top 40 and electronica music. Dylan had been a rave kid a long time ago, and I wanted to see it in action. We went and got glowsticks and necklaces, taking them into the park no problem. I didn't care how long the queue was for Millennium -- the longer, the better.
We got into the station right at 10 o'clock -- closing time, but of course they let us ride. The air was thick with something I hadn't felt in a long time, and I noticed the coincidence -- once again, it was ten o'clock, and I was still in the park, waiting to ride a roller coaster. Our train pulled up, and as I crossed the gate to get in, it happened again. I wasn't walking on solid ground, but thin air. Time seemed to freeze. After the ride, I had to stop, absorbing all of the feelings. Dylan caught up with me, and I made him hold onto me so I wouldn't fall. I wanted to preserve that moment forever. (It has been -- you can now guess what Midnight Rave is written about.)
Those two days -- August 16, 2005, and July 16, 2010 -- remain in my mind, as they will forever. God uses the Point in mysterious and amazing ways. (Why always the 16th? I will never get this.) So now here's the amazing thing -- I know God was with me this trip to the Point, on my 'Royal Tour.' It wasn't one defining moment of power, but a silent thread hanging through every step I took, every word I said. I want for my entire life to be like that, and it is continuing to be. If it can, I know that I never have to say goodbye to Cedar Point, to Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster, to the humming in my heart where I know God's spirit resides.
I don't want it to stop.
Don't let it stop.
Please, don't let it stop.
It's Father's Day now. Mom says I have family stuff to do on Thursday, but that won't be so bad, even though I have to miss Fairhaven. I'm at the 'rents, trying to finish my book(s).
I ran into Katie Grigsby at the theater the other day, when I met up with Jesse to go see Mr. Popper's Penguins. (It's adorable, by the way. Jesse squealed throughout the entire thing.) Seeing her again made me laugh -- I told her I had been at the Point, and she had to have a jolt to her memory as to why I like Cedar Point so much.
You see, Katie was there the first time I went to the Point.
I've told this story many times before, but I'd like to tell it in a way that makes sense. It finally came together when I told it to Nikki at the Point yesterday (that was just yesterday!). I know that there are more personal details that some people will know (I do have a private blog that is reserved -- if you're reading this, you most likely don't want to know about it), but being there for the past couple of days made me realize just how important that God has made the Point in my life. It's more than just a 'vacation home.' What it is, I'm not sure I'll ever know.
This is just the story of two times at one amusement park that God has used me. As a background before I tell my first story, for those of you who don't know me: found God at 11, fell out with him, started doing what I wanted to, gave it up to him on June 28, 2005, at which point He started sowing seeds for this whole roller coaster thing. On July 16, 2005 -- now considered the HyperSong New Year -- he drilled his lesson home at Kings Island. It was soon after that when my youth group announced a trip to the Point -- a place I had never been before.
To start off, let's begin with the academic version of how things happened. I wrote this paper back in February of 2006, back when I was in high school. We had to write four papers for class, and the third could be on whatever we wanted it to be on. I picked this -- my first trip to Cedar Point, which took place on August 16, 2005.
The old school bus bumped along the road as we headed north towards our destination. I closed my eyes, waiting. Before embarking on our destination, the driver, also our youth pastor, told us the trip would take three hours. We were only an hour into our trip and I was bored.
My youth group was headed to Sandusky, Ohio, to visit an amusement park; Cedar Point to be exact. Unlike many of the other kids who were on the bus, this would be my first time at Cedar Point. I had joined up with my friend, Lauren, and a pair of red-haired sisters, Megan and Katie, who would show me around the park. I did not know what exactly to expect, but I had visited another amusement park the previous month, and knew I would easily fall asleep that night with a serious case of vertigo.
Little did I know how real the case would be as we arrived on the peninsula that held the park. We climbed out of the bus, taking everything with us, and I met up with my friends as we entered the park.
I quickly realized that Cedar Point had nowhere near enough park maps; the only place you could get one was the entrance. As I grabbed my park map, Lauren, Katie, and Megan pulled me towards the first roller coaster. Through a period of about two hours, we waited in line for three coasters, riding each one. As we climbed on one of the coasters, I could feel the excitement building inside of me. Inside, it felt good to be back in an amusement park, but I wasn’t sure why...yet.
After that, we stopped in a pizza place to have some food before we embarked on our next coaster. I paid for the food, instructing the girls to order water to drink in order to save money (a trick I learned from working in the food business). After we left, we headed toward one more roller coaster, which was near the tallest coaster in the park, Top Thrill Dragster.
The other girls were too chicken to ride this ride, and I did not want to wait in line, but as we walked past, I stopped the others for a minute, anxious and curious. I wanted to watch the coaster launch. Before I could blink, it did, speeding past at breakneck speeds, mounting a huge curve in the sky and then returning to the earth as fast as it had left. I merely stared, rooted to my spot. While we waited in line for the next coaster, I watched Top Thrill Dragster run a few more times, often holding up the line in doing so because I was so entranced.
The day continued with more fun events. Megan and Katie insisted on riding a few water rides, which resulted in the rest of us getting soaked. After that incident, we rode a huge swing ride, which made the other three girls laugh when I dripped water the entire time. Lauren insisted on taking the four of us on her favorite roller coaster. Then, Katie wanted to ride the Ferris wheel. Her reasoning was that she wanted a romantic ride in the sunset, but we insisted that would not happen because, simply, there were no members of the opposite gender to be found.
Finally, we tried to squeeze one more ride in, but the park began to close. The youth group had to meet at the front of the park; my group found ourselves situated in the back with no time to waste. We began to sprint towards the front of the park, but for a second in time, as we passed Top Thrill Dragster, I stopped, looking back at it and watching it launch one last time.
It was then that I realized why I was so hooked on the coaster, and the other coasters of the park as well: because of the speed it had, topping a hundred and twenty miles an hour. Back home, I was just a girl who seemed outgoing on the outside, but was really shy on the inside and did not feel like she could do much of anything. In a place like Cedar Point, however, I could truly fly, thanks to rides such as Top Thrill Dragster. It was then that, since I did not get the chance to ride, I vowed to return to Cedar Point and ride Top Thrill Dragster...and in promising that to myself, I seemed to give myself a drive inside of me, one that I would not realize until much later. This drive, however, would fuel my desires and truly propel me to ‘race for the sky.’
And I fully intend on returning to do so.
That's all mostly true. Mostly.
When we were running back toward the front of the park, at ten o'clock, right when the park was closed -- that's where the story diverges a bit. I'm not a runner by any stretch of the imagination, so I'm sure I looked like an idiot as I thundered down the midways in my tennis shoes, everything going everywhere. Ten o'clock...that was the time we had to be back at the front of the park. Which meant that Megan and I had to run to get there on time, as we were obviously late.
I remember thinking as I was running -- about my dad, more specifically. Earlier that same year, in July, after my trip to Kings Island, he had chided me again for my art. My answer had been to stop creating entirely. Three days of reading Memoirs of a Geisha and learning how to do sudoku later, my mother smacked me upside the head and told me to stop being a dork. I had talked to Megan, that night at the Point, about my creative ideas. What if I could get free of what was expected of me?
To be free...to be able to fly like that... I remember thinking those exact same words.
What happened next I cannot explain. I'm not even sure I can pinpoint it anymore, it's been so long ago. But the way I remember it, it was like there was a light inside of my heart, inside of my soul, and for the first time, it exploded. It filled everything inside of me, and it felt like my feet were no longer running against the ground, but on air. I ran for about five seconds, then stopped, out of breath, and heard the launch near me.
I knew that coaster. The same one that raced for the sky, that did exactly what I wanted to do.
When I found my way to the carousel, where we were supposed to meet up, I knew something was different. I tied my shoe. What was that? I still couldn't keep my eyes off of that coaster. Back then, I didn't know, but now, I know a lot better. It was God who imprinted on me that night. God who showed me a new way to worship Him. I was overwhelmed with His spirit, knowing that this place was important (and I still don't get why!).
After August 16, I promised myself I would go back and ride that coaster...then became obsessed with it. I had a falling out my freshman year at Miami, second semester, but found my way back into God's arms with the help of my new friends (and the Lost Magnum incident -- which I'm sure I'll remind everybody of at a later point in time). I didn't ride Top Thrill again until 2008, upon which I got my rollback...as if God was erasing my self-focused history and starting me anew.
The way I remember August 16...it's the same exact feeling I got during the Midnight Rave. Except I wasn't running.
The day I refer to as the Midnight Rave was on July 16, 2010 -- again the New Year, but a coincidence, I'm sure. In between my rollback in 2008 and the Midnight Rave, things got rougher. No details, but the people who have been with me know what they need to know. It was pretty bad.
I didn't have a pass in 2010 -- too complicated -- but God arranged for me to go up to the Point as part of a radio broadcast. That meant I was a special guest at the Point -- I got to be the annoying person who cuts in line and sits in the front row of EVERYTHING. Dylan was new back then -- he came with me, and I'm glad he did.
The real fun happened after the broadcast -- we relaxed for a while, got a nap as I had gotten no sleep (kept staring out the window all night, not believing my luck that Millennium Force is right outside my window), and then we went to the Dollar Tree. I had an idea. I knew that, usually, at Raptor and Millennium Force's queue lines late at night, they play a good mix of Top 40 and electronica music. Dylan had been a rave kid a long time ago, and I wanted to see it in action. We went and got glowsticks and necklaces, taking them into the park no problem. I didn't care how long the queue was for Millennium -- the longer, the better.
We got into the station right at 10 o'clock -- closing time, but of course they let us ride. The air was thick with something I hadn't felt in a long time, and I noticed the coincidence -- once again, it was ten o'clock, and I was still in the park, waiting to ride a roller coaster. Our train pulled up, and as I crossed the gate to get in, it happened again. I wasn't walking on solid ground, but thin air. Time seemed to freeze. After the ride, I had to stop, absorbing all of the feelings. Dylan caught up with me, and I made him hold onto me so I wouldn't fall. I wanted to preserve that moment forever. (It has been -- you can now guess what Midnight Rave is written about.)
Those two days -- August 16, 2005, and July 16, 2010 -- remain in my mind, as they will forever. God uses the Point in mysterious and amazing ways. (Why always the 16th? I will never get this.) So now here's the amazing thing -- I know God was with me this trip to the Point, on my 'Royal Tour.' It wasn't one defining moment of power, but a silent thread hanging through every step I took, every word I said. I want for my entire life to be like that, and it is continuing to be. If it can, I know that I never have to say goodbye to Cedar Point, to Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster, to the humming in my heart where I know God's spirit resides.
I don't want it to stop.
Don't let it stop.
Please, don't let it stop.
no subject
I love you. Don't you dare stop.