This summer, I went to Cedar Point. The park was bright, with tons of different smells and sounds, almost like a zoo. The air and water were cold, but the sun was warm. Jim stood next to me and Kylie. Both of them blocking the sun from my eyes. Kylie and Jim directed me toward the tall ride entrance, near a little forest of pine trees and dark flowers and weeds. There were concrete steps and a path leading to the end of the line, which we followed. This ride was the Magnum.

I decided to ride this ride because my Youth Group leader, Pastor Jim, said “This is a baby ride, it’s not scary at all. But it’s tons of fun!” Kylie, who was also in my group, agreed with Jim. Kylie is my best friend, who I was fortunate enough to spend the day with. Kylie, her dad, Jim and I, decided to go on the ride. As I was getting strapped in, I noticed the color of the track. I also noticed a huge hill, with the same colored track. The hill that I was trying to convince myself wasn’t part of the ride I was on. I asked Jim if that was going to be part of the ride, he kept giving me a whole bunch of different answers than what I asked for. I was terrified, knowing that he was just trying to distract me, and make me go through with riding the ride. I had some horrible thoughts. For some silly reason I kept telling myself I was going to die. I knew that I wouldn’t, but I was just so scared. Finally the ride started and I was freaking out inside, but I made it. I even really enjoyed it. And after that, I got the courage to go on an even scarier ride, which made me cry out of initial fear but I loved it. Jim kept asking me and asking me to go on the ride with him, completely determined to get me to go on it. “Come on, it’s even better than the other ride. It goes smoother and it will be over before you know it.” Finally I gave in. We walked up to the ride and sooner than I imagined, I was on it. I tightly shut my eyes and began to discreetly cry. The ride started moving, we were going up. “It’s about 25 seconds to the top of the ride” Jim said, so I kept my eyes closed, and slowly counted. Focusing only on the numbers. I reached 25 and looked forward, I was just now getting to the top and then we dropped. I was screaming my head off, and Jim was laughing at me. A few moments passed, “Smile!” I had already been smiling, but I fixed it up just in time before there was a flash of light. Afterwards, we got to see the picture, and I looked so happy. I enjoyed the ride. But more than anything, I was proud of myself, and ready to tell my mom all about it. It was such a great experience that I never would have gotten to have if I hadn’t faced my fears.