The Eastern New Mexico News - Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

link Christina Calloway

Staff columnist

It hit me Saturday that I’ve been defying death for quite some time.

Wisdom comes with age, so it’s no surprise when I was a kid, I didn’t second-think all the carnival rides I’ve ever been on. It all started coming back to me when I thought I was in my last moments on a ride last weekend at the Roswell UFO Festival.

In seventh grade, I was running with a band of troublemakers, exploring a parking lot carnival at the mall when we spotted the lit-up Starship 3000, a ride that’s based on gravity and nothing else.

I reluctantly boarded the ship and matters got worse when the ride operator told me only three people threw up that day, followed by the creepiest laugh. I think he took joy in tormenting children. Needless to say, I survived the ride and my lunch that day.

Fast forward to college when my friend and I spotted another parking lot carnival on our way back from dinner. We got on a ride that was a straight drop down, at least 75 feet tall. When we reached the top, she just happened at that moment to question how secure the ride was considering it was built in a day. A look of a panic read across my face and then we were on the ground.

It was the ride operator again on Saturday who had to haunt us. The ride creaked the entire time and we were stuck upside down for at least 20 seconds. But would I do any of it again? Absolutely.

Christina Calloway writes

for Clovis Media Inc.