Allison's Private Journal

Dear Journal,

Today we went to Canobie Lake Park.  It was awesome!  The last ride we went on, the Yankee Canonball was really fun because Sarah and I got the very front.  We went on the Boston Tea Party 5 times and the caterpillar like 10 times.  On the log flume Jenny peed her pants because she was so scared!  When Jenny and I went on the para-trooper ride, she dared me to kick off my shoe, so I did and I think she probably peed her pants again because we laughed so hard!  I can’t wait until tomorrow, the big game!  Too tired, I’m going to bed.  Good night!

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Here is something I remember from this day: the Yankee Cannonball is one of the best wooden rollercoasters you’ll find in New England, hands down.  It’s jerky, the mini hills are even better than the big drops, and you feel like you could be beheaded by an overhanging wooden post at any moment.  The restraints on this coaster are standard for one of its caliber–a lap bar shared by both people in the cart.  Now, the girl who I experienced this spectacular ride with, at this point in our lives, might have weighed 80 pounds.  By the summer going into seventh grade, I was topping at 140; you can imagine the deficit in riding security this created for little Sarah.  There were at least six inches of room between her teensie thighs and the bar that was snugly holding my full figure in place; I can only imagine the horror this poor girl felt as I squealed with delight at every stomach-lurching dip and rise on the track.  Having just watched the full death premonition scene in Final Destination 3, I envision her desperately trying to push the bar further down in a fit of panic, knowing that at the next turn her thin frame could be violently thrown from this cart of terror, as I laugh with delight, raising my hands in the air as the pressure on my thick trunks allows me to.

Imagine.

My memory is that Sarah enjoyed this ride just as much as I did–when the train came to a halt, we exchanged “that was awesome!”‘s and giggled like crazy (which apparently is something I was doing quite a bit that day, potentially showing early signs of mania); but was a profound sense of relief what made little Sarah so exuberant that afternoon?  With all evidence considered, I can say confidently that this is the closest my childhood girth ever came to being a literally health risk to another human being.  In many ways, although at the time I was unaware, this… was rock bottom.