The Merry Go Round

Do you have a favorite one?  Is there a carousel from your childhood that came instantly to mind when you read the title of this post?  Do you tell people absolutely must ride it when they are in town?  

It's a lovely sign of his maturity that Giblet no longer screams in fury because his mom will only let him ride the lion one time per visit to the zoo.  They love the animals and the (ridiculous) small train ride and  feeding the little animals pellets taken softly from their hands, but the merry go round sits right in front of the entrance/exit/gift shop and that's just a lot to handle when you're small.

It took me a while to get used to riding the horses at Nunley's.  I was happy sitting in the throne that was firmly anchored to the moving platform, much to the dismay of everyone else.  When I finally mustered the courage to get on a horse that went up and down, once I finally figured out that no one fell off this thing, I became fearless, stretching my arm out to grab what I always hoped would be, and sometimes actually was, the brass ring.

Daddooooo was always on the horse in front of me.  He could grab two rings at a time.  That felt like the most amazing thing in the world to me.

TBG told everyone that he spent yesterday thinking loving thoughts about his children.  I spent mine with my dad, long gone but never allowing himself to be forgotten for very long, remembering him pulling us on our sleds across the snow covered Black Course at Bethpage; dodging and riding the waves in Far Rockaway and Long Beach and Lido Beach because why go anywhere else when the best beaches were right there; and, always, on the merry go round at Nunley's.

There, he really did have a chance at the brass ring.