Implosion of a Landmark, Site of a Landmark Moment

I saw on the news last night that construction crews are imploding the Texas Chute-Out tower today at Six Flags.  I’m so sad that they have chosen to do away with this ride.  It was always one of Tanner’s favorites.  It was also the site of another “landmark” moment I had with Tanner some years back.

Tanner likes to go fast and be in motion, so for many years we have had Six Flags Season passes.  One day, when he was much younger, we went to the park with Adam and a friend of his.  Up to that point in time, Tanner had mainly ridden on the kiddie rides.  But he was getting bigger, so I thought it might be a good time to try something new.

The first “new” ride we tried was the swing ride.  You know the one.  You sit in a swing and the ride raises you up while you go around in a circle.  Tanner liked the kiddie one….and I was feeling a little brave.  So I put Tanner on a swing, latched him in and sat behind him. My bravery disappeared once we started going up.  The whole ride I kept telling Tanner “Keep your hands on the bar.”  “Be still.”  I was so afraid he would try to get out and fall.  And then he turned his face slightly and I could see his smile.  His big, HUGE, beautiful smile.  He was loving it!!!  I was still scared…..but knew that we had accomplished something new and for that I was so grateful.

Building on the bravery and success of that moment, I decided to go for broke!  We headed over to the Chute-Out. This was a very bold move because Tanner is afraid of heights.  I really wasn’t sure what he would do.  But this ride is super fast.  You are up and down before you really know it.  So we sat down in the seat, got buckled in and the bar put across.  I put my arm around him and held his hand and gave him my super pep talk.  “This will be so fun. We are going to go up high. Mommy’s right here with you.”  And then as we started to go up I said what I say at the beginning of every ride, “Here we go!”  And there we went!

He didn’t freak out, he looked all around as we went up.  And then, before I knew it we were back on the ground.  There was no huge smile, so I didn’t know if he liked it or not.  Before the worker came to get us un-buckled, Tanner looked at me and said, “Here we go.”  That is code for “I want to do it again.”  He liked it!  He used proper language!  So of course, I had to reinforce.  We got off the seat and went straight back to the end of the line and rode it again!  Another SUCCESS!

Year after year, we rode the Chute-Out.  We rode it at night and he loved it.  He got very familiar with Six Flags and he would almost run to the swing ride or the “parachute” ride.

This was just another time in my life when I didn’t let fear rob me of what turned out to be a huge moment for Tanner.  I was encouraged to keep trying new rides with him, which I still do.  I always say with Tanner that there is a 50/50 chance of complete failure or a 50/50 chance of complete success.  But if you never try, you will never see that HUGE smile and feel the joy of success!!!

It is with great sadness that I see that tower go down.  But my memories will go on forever~!