Carowinds

I’m 56 years old now, and it’s been more than ten years since I was forced to come to grips with the reality of aging. On that day so long ago, Tonya and I took our two boys (Ryan and Royce) to Carowinds theme park in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ryan was 14 years old at the time and Royce was 10.

It was July 4th, a day I look back upon now as being my personal Independence Day from thinking that I was still the man I had once been. Whereas I had always been able to ride every ride in Carowinds without any problems, I only managed to ride two that day. I had planned to ride a few more, but things didn’t work out as I intended.

My first ride that hot, summer day was a deathtrap known as The Drop Zone. For this ride, I got strapped…