Afraid of Heights. Went Parasailing Anyway.

I was a little nervous.

Was this a smart idea?

Maybe I shouldn’t have inhaled all that pasta for lunch.

What if I got sick?

What if the line broke and I went tumbling to my death? Wasn’t there a scene in a movie when the boat guy was eaten and the people parasailing went crashing into the water? I mean, yes, I think that was a Jurassic Park movie, but still…

I chewed on one of my nails. I could do this. Teenagers were currently parasailing. If they could do it, so could I.

One of the owners of the boat came over and began attaching the harness to me. This was it. No backing out now.

I was at the beach and decided to go parasailing with my cousin. It was a spur of the moment thing. Maybe I should have thought things through. But no, if I did that then I might have decided NOT to parasail. And I needed some adventure in my life.

The teenagers were coming down. At least this parasailing experience wouldn’t include being dunked in the water. I could not be dunked in the water. I panic when I go under water.

“It’s almost your turn!” the boat worker said, giving me a thumbs up.

“I need to pee,” I answered.

Well, no, I kept that to myself. I probably didn’t need to pee. I just get that sensation when I’m nervous.

The teenagers were on the boat now gushing about their experience.

“It was fun!” they both said, giggling.

Well, teenagers think listening to Justin Bieber or One Direction is fun so their idea of fun could be completely different than mine.

I took a deep breath as the boat worker led us to the area where he’d be hooking us up to. I was tandem parasailing with my cousin so at least I wouldn’t be alone. I gripped the bar and waited.

“Here we go,” the worker said and suddenly we were being lifted into the air.

“You can let go!” the worker said to me.

I was gripping the sides tightly. I cautiously let go and…oh, I was okay. I just hung there.

“This isn’t bad,” I told my cousin.

And it really wasn’t. Yes, I’m afraid of heights but we weren’t up terribly high. Plus the boat wasn’t going too quickly so my stomach didn’t flop around. It was pleasant.

When it was time to be reeled in, it wasn’t frightening either. They had one of those crank systems so we were brought down slowly.

I would go parasailing again.

I recommend it. Even if you are afraid of heights.