Carnival

The grand carousel that I didn't ride. Thinking I'd give my space to kids who want to ride the horsie-horsie. With my sister and our friend, Joy...we went to the carnival. We bought the ride-all-you-can tickets and realized it's a mistake after seeing people screamed while being flipped and tossed in wild rides.

It drained our courage...except for the ferris wheel. That one looked familiar. I got to ride that back in grade school...and back in our little town in far South. Only this time, the ferris wheel is a mammoth machine towering near the boulevard. Off we rode and screamed at every creak and squeck as the machine turned up then down. Up, down. Like our hearts, too. Up, down.

Thankfully, we get used to it after a cycle. We were with a Korean couple who has been living in Pinas for 7 years already. The woman was clutching her husband and murmuring something, I didn't understand it...but I'm sure...the rough translation would read, "Honey, I'm scared!".

The view on top of the ferris wheel. My sister and I rode the roller-coaster, too. And until then I realized the meaning of the phrase, "life is a roller coaster ride." In carnivals, in the name of fun and excitement, people (including us) entrust their lives to the integrity of contraptions, nuts, and bolts. Somehow, we got to trust something.