Here we go…

The PNE in Vancouver has a wooden rollercoaster that is close to 60 years old. I’m not a rollercoaster expert so maybe they all work this way but I thought it was pretty cool when I learned that this rollercoaster works entirely on gravity. The first hill is big and steep; the train is hauled up to the very top ever so slowly. It rounds the top curve and then hurtles down the slope below. From there, the ride just goes on it’s own by the grace of momentum and gravity with no mechanical help.

I’ve had this unmistakable feeling in the last few weeks that my life is on a similar course right now as we wait for this third baby to arrive. The last few weeks, we’ve been getting ready for Christmas and Aaron’s birthday: organizing gifts, planning meals, cooking & baking. The year ahead has been pushed to the side but all the while I’ve had the underlying sense that we were all being firmly tugged up a long hill.

And this frosty, sparkly morning, this first day of 2011, as we packed away all the Christmas decorations and wished each other Happy New Year, I felt the ride crest the hill. I find myself in that brief moment at the top, peering down the precipitous drop in front of us, giddy and terrified about the free fall that lies ahead.

No turning back now…