Centrifugal Force

(This is a true story)

I don't know if you have ever noticed this but if you were born longer than you can remember ago, playgrounds have changed.

I suppose its because of litigation. In short no one wants to get sued, I sure dont. I really didn't notice the changes till I had my son and began taking him to the park or to play at his school.

Growing up I recall huge maze like works of bars and obstacles. Hell I remember some flat out scared me. There was a vast array of swings and balance beams. Monkey bars were standard issue. I even remember chin-up bars. I remember girls climbing up to this bar suspended high in the air to do their flips and twirls like an olympic gymnast.

Now days that's all been toned down a lot. The playground down the street from my house is like a low "ship" with ladders and stairs compared to the beheamoths of my childhood all safely covered in a soft paint with no sharp corners. Even the slides are lame. I remember thinking the "Big" slide at school was the equivalent of jumping out of an airplane, now the big rush is will I get static shock from the plastic slide that water barely runs down. People worry about kids being overweight but everything is so toned down that the kids will burn half a calorie getting on the palyground equiptment compared to when I was a kid having to literally climb up the jungle gym to be on it. Now its like "Come on let's climb the stairs to the jungle gym!" I'm sure elevators will be next.

My final complaint is that some idiot decided to replace the sand that traditionally covers the playground with tree bark. That person has obviously never fallen off a jungle gym. How can tree bark be softer? When will they decide to put chunks of concrete out there to break our falls?

But let's not forget my all time favorite thing on the play ground…

The "Merry-go-Round"

Dang ole! Rated the most dangerous thing ever put on the playground. In some hands it was a calm, fun ride but in the wrong hands it was even better!

These days I think you have to go to Europe or somewhere else to see one. I saw one in Iraq once but they have all gone the way of the dinosaurs. Extinct only remembered or speculated about.

Growing up Merry-go-rounds were as common as swing sets. One in every park and school. The park down the street where I grew up was no exception. I have lots of fun memories on them.

I remember one time we were all at the park. My family used to make a big deal about birthdays and would make a big celebration picnic in the park complete with pinatas. Us kids, I think it was nine of us, 6 girls/3 boys, would get hopped up on sweets and food and run around screaming our little heads off in the park.

Man that must have been annoying for the adults. I've mentioned my Mother requiring entertainment or she gets bored, well Dads not that much different. Difference is that Dad was a Marine and he has learned to make do with what's at hand. "Improvise, Adapt and Overcome" was the motto he raised us by.

So Dads stuck at a party full ofscreaming, sugar-high kids aaaand there's a merry-go-round…that to him spelt "fun for all!"

So Dad and our ex-uncle (a former Marine himself) would round us all up and herd us over to the wheel-of-death. Funny part was we loved it, it wasn't our first rodeo. They would tell us to hang on and if we(hahahaha! "If") fell off to roll away from the merry-go-round when we hit the ground.

So everyone got on the merrry-go-round and held on. Like it think if we had rope we woulda tied ourselves on. I remember looking at all the girls spread out the ride. All of them would wrap they legs and arms in a death grip. My cousins Micheal, David and me being the only boys would stick together. We occupied on whole section. I sat facing out, wrapped around the U-bar. Micheal and Dave would hang onto the bar that want to the middle of the merry-go-round.

Dad and my uncle would then ask us if we were ready and when we replied yes they would begin a count down rocking the merry-go-round back and fourth untill they reached the count of three.

Then the carnage began.

It must be the way it feels to be in a tornado. The world blurred by, the colors running into each other like a water color painting. I could feel the centrifugal force pushing me into the bar, hell I could feel my internal organs moving to one side of my body. I could hear the girls sreaming as everything swirled by.

I remember looking back and seeing them fly off one by one. One second they were there, then they let go and were swallowed by the swirling vortex. Of the boys David being pretty young was the first to go. Michael them would slide down and hang on to me. His legs would tire out and let go, I looked and saw him perfectly level, sideways in the air clinging to my arm, screaming bloody murder. His hand got tired and he let go, he slow drifted into the void, then was swept away.

I began to have problems of my own, it bean to hurt to hang onto the bar. I tried to adjust my legs and released too much and the vortex grabbed hold of my ankles. I then found myself suspended like Mike. Hanging on for dear life I could see my Father laughing as he and my Uncle continued pushing the Merry-go-Round. I'm pretty sure I was screaming by then. My fingers began to tire and I succomed to the vortex drifting out into the void before being swept away.

The world stopped in a hurry with all the colors becoming recognizeable shapes. Then I made contact with the ground and rolled several feet. When I sat up in the grass I saw all the kids in a group cheering and laughing. I got up and ran over to cheer on the remaing kids on the wheel…

Man what times, I'm sure now that's child abuse.

Several of my cousins and I still sit around and laugh about the wheel of death. Come to think of it all the things we did as children are considered unsafe or dangerous now. Despite all of that I have made many memories that I cherish highly.

I remember a few years into skateboarding an old woman who did not approve came out to tell me that I could have an injury that could confine me to a wheelchair or worse and that I should do no "dangerous" activities to avoid that and be perfectly healthy in my old age. To that I replied " yeah but imagine the stories I'll tell from my wheelchair…"

-B