A day trip away with friends, sunshine and a water park. Sounds like the perfect way to spend Labor Day, right? Yeah, that's what I thought too-- until something happened that could quite possibly be branded as The Most Embarrassing Moment of my Life.
My residence hall was taking a trip to Pine Lake, a small-ish water park located about 45 minutes away from the university. I was pumped. I'd never been, but the weather was beautiful, some of my friends were going and it was really cheap.
I remember eating in the dining commons with my floor before departure, not having a care in the world. Why should I be worried about the trip? I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what humiliation I was going to experience.
During the car ride there, I gazed out the window in the backseat, enjoying the peaceful environment and glorious sunshine. All appeared well with the world.
When we got there, we jumped out the car, eager to spend a fun day going down water slides, soaking up some sun and hanging out with friends. I met up with some other friends who went in a different car, and we began walking around the park, unsure of what to do first.
In the distance, we saw a group of people walking to the far left section of the park and decided to follow. That was my first mistake. I should've gone a different way, but nope. I just had to follow the pack.
A long line had formed for the zip line.
Oh wow! I thought. A zip line! This looks like a lot of fun!
Wrong, Chelsea. So very wrong.
I had never been zip lining before, and I thought this would be the perfect way to get some experience doing it. All you had to do was hold onto the rope, push off from the top of this ledge and then easily sail down the line, stopping when the handles on the rope hit a tire. Then, you'd drop happily into the water, smiling at how wonderful it was. Sounds easy, right?
Yeah, it was. For everyone except me.
The possibility of falling before reaching the tire never even would have crossed my mind if we hadn't seen this poor little boy let go of the handles too early and crash into the water. The moment he fell, my heart dropped. Instantly, dread seized my heart.
That's going to be me, I thought.
A chorus of "Ooooooohhhhsss" rang through the line when the boy fell, and stupidly, I busted out laughing at his unfortunate fate. Little did I know that only minutes later, I would be on the receiving end of the laughter.
Gradually, we got closer and closer to the top of the stairs. Everyone in our group had gone before us, problem free. There was a little girl, 6 or 7, who was afraid to go, but she made it just fine.
Okay, if this little girl can do it, then surely I can! I told myself.
Oh, Chelsea. You and your blind optimism!
My friend, Meghan, went before me, and as I watched her sail happily down the line of fun, I gained a little more confidence in myself.
That is, until I realized the handles of the zip line were metal, and my hands were wet. Not a good combination.
I turned back to my two friends who were behind me, saying, "I'm going to fall!"
They just laughed and reassured me that I wouldn't.
"You'll be fine!" they said. What dirty liars.
They asked if I wanted them to push me off, but I told them no, I'm a big girl, and I wanted to do this by myself.
I am a sophomore in college, I thought. I can handle a simple zip line.
I wiped my wet hands on my legs, climbed up the steps, and took hold of the handles.
Here we go, I thought. It was now or never.
With my heart racing, I took a deep breath, tightly gripped the handles, and counted down. One-two-three, and I pushed off.
I was soaring! I was flying! Zip lining is amazing! What a wonderful view!
That "wonderful view" lasted maybe 2 seconds before everything went horribly, terribly wrong.
My hands apparently weren't dry enough, or I wasn't strong enough, or I didn't push off hard enough - I don't know what went wrong.
To my utter horror, I felt my hands start to slip off the handles. I began plummeting down into the water, all the while thinking Oh crap! No! This isn't supposed to happen to me!
Instead of dropping straight down, my body decided to twist and flip in the air, and I ended up hitting the water flat on my back, just like a pancake on a skillet.
Underwater, I started thinking of how to play it off cool.
When I surfaced, I could hear the laughter of my friends, and everyone else in line, behind me.
"I told you I was going to fall!" I shouted, deciding to laugh because it was the only way to keep myself from crying.
I defeatedly swam over the ledge and hauled myself out of the lake, my face shadowed by failure and shame. Meghan came running over to me, asking if I was okay in between bursts of laughter.
I played it off like everything was fine, but deep down, my pride was hurt. I think it hurt more than my flaming red back did, actually.
Fortunately for me, my friend Jordan had the exact same fate that I did on her trip down, so I wasn't the only one to be defeated by the zip line.
That day, I learned that zip lines are evil, I have no upper-body strength and some mental pictures never leave people. Ever.
At least, my most embarrassing moment ever made people laugh. That's what really matters...right?
