Another oft-used metaphor for the life journey is roller coaster. So many amusement park metaphors lend themselves well to a life. A merry-go-round can be a bit repetitious, a life going in circles, stuck in a rut. But a roller coaster! All the thrills and changes just like a life lived and savored...
Virtual re-creation of The Cyclone at Puritas Springs near Cleveland, Ohio
In the fifties when I was still a child and living in Cleveland Ohio, my parents would sometimes take us to an old amusement park in nearby Rocky River. Puritas Springs had been there for decades. The wooden roller coaster called The Cyclone was a featured attraction. The ride was an ominous sight to a five year old, with the clanking chain drive sound and the smell of the grease on the track impacting the experience deep into my memory.
I never rode that particular roller coaster, but I've thought about it often. As many in recent generations have done, my life has taken on a metaphorical role as the roller coaster that I never stop riding until the day I die. All the ups and downs and the circuitous changes of the course we all take in life are easily likened to a roller coaster. It's a metaphor that has become a cliche.
But it does work, which is why so often we return to that reliable old standard metaphor of the roller coaster of life.
As I have mentioned in previous posts in 2018, during the April Challenge last year a song came to me that I wrote down and eventually even recorded a few rough versions that I featured in a Battle of the Bands post. Once again this year I trudged into April with little enthusiasm for A to Z or much else for that matter only to get another rush of inspiration to write another song during this Challenge of 2019.
Actually, I usually come up with several songs each day that I think on for a little bit before I file it away into the inner recesses of memory. I don't think those songs are ever forgotten, but just put on hold until ideas and words come to turn that dormant song into a project leading to completion. Then, sometimes, a song idea will grab me and stay with me for many days until it's part of my mental music library and committed on paper until I can find a use for it.
So what song have I written this April? What is the name of this new song that is obsessing me? It's not a totally unique title or concept, but I think that's okay. It's my song and I think it could sound pretty good with the right recording. If you didn't guess already, my new A to Z April inspired song is called "Roller Coaster Ride." I'm still coming up with additional lyrics, but I've got a melody solidly in my brain.
I don't know if I'll get another Battle of the Bands post from the song, but this is another lurch forward on that open road leading to my dream. This is me--the dreamer riding on a crazy roller coaster ride of life.
Do any particular times or circumstances inspire more creativity with you than others? What is the best roller coaster you've ridden on or heard of? Did your parents take you to amusement parks when you were a child?
