Hang on lady, we going for a hair-raising ride!

It was December, 1987, and I was completely bald--but sporting a stylish wig. I had FIVE of my six  prescribed chemo treatments under my belt. And I had a week's vacation due, so we decided to take Melissa (who was then 13) to Disneyland.

We had heard that the Magic Kingdom at Christmas time was indeed magical. Every night there would be a "Very Merry Christmas Parade" right down Main Street (the reproduction of Main Street in Marceline, Missouri, Walt's boyhood home town). Yep, some magic was in the stars for us. Besides, it was getting COLD in Missouri, and flying to Southern California in December sounded pretty luxurious. Neither Harold nor I had ever been to Disneyland ourselves, so it was a first for all three of us kids. Which meant we really didn't know that much about what was there.


Since I had been on chemo for several months, I did have some side effects that I needed to consider. I couldn't participate in anything too stomach-turning, and, of course, there was that bald thing going on under all that fake hair. LOL. Other than that, I was ready for adventure! Disclaimer: I was not ready for the "It's a Small World" exhibit. I don't think anyone is ever ready for that one!

Melissa had a blast riding all the famous Disney rides like the flying elephants, the teacups, etc. I have pictures of her in all those, but she would kill me, so...you'll have to use your imagination. We did ride with her on the bigger rides like trains through dark jungles, boats through infested waters, underground cars through pirate caves, etc. Typical Disney stuff. We were all having an adventure!

After lunch, we happened on Space Mountain. Now, we had heard it was "awesome" because of some kind of movies or graphics or something that we would get to see if we went in. I mean, it was named Space Mountain, right? So there must be something related to Star Wars or outer space or something like that, which we all liked. So in we went.

We found ourselves in a huge waiting line, so we figured it must be awesome! Once we were inside, there was no turning back to get out, so we just waited our turn. When a string of cars finally pulled up to the ramp right in front of us, Harold and I got into car, Melissa got into the one right behind us, and we were off!

Well, about 30 seconds into this adventure, we realized something with horror. See, I had planned to avoid some "adventures" that day for all kinds of reasons, all related to my chemo side effects. We all realized the same thing at the same time and all three of us yelled
"This is a roller coaster!" To make it even worse, it was a roller coaster ride...in the dark!

What made us realize we were on a roller coaster was that we were making a steep, slow, jerky climb to what we figured was about to make a death  plunge at breakneck speeds. Or hair-raising speeds. But I couldn't afford any more hair raising, so I grabbed my wig with one hand and tried to hold onto the car with my other hand. Harold had the exact same thought at the exact same time, and I felt his protecting hand plop on top of my hand, on top of my head! We were both holding onto my wig with all our might. I was yelling, "I've got it, I've got it" to Harold. There were enough flashes of light for Melissa to realize what was going on in front of her and she was laughing--LOUDLY--her head off at the spectacle in front of her. Thanks a lot, kid! Even with my eyes closed, I had visions of Short Round in his underground coal car in front of the screaming heroine, yelling, "Hang on lady, we going for a ride!" Yup. Hanging on here. To my hair!

After that was over, it took a good hour of sitting on a bench in the sunlight to get my stomach settled. I didn't want to lose that expensive Disneyland lunch. But I still had hair!!! And for that, I considered myself fortunate indeed! I couldn't even imagine what would have happened if my wig had come off inside there, in the dark! I knew that we would never forget that ride as long as we lived.

Preview of things to come: My best Christmas present that year was knowing that when we got back home from Disneyland, I would take my final chemo treatment. It was just a few weeks before Christmas. And that would bring about some chuckle-worthy issues related to the adventures of Christmas shopping on chemo brain! Stay tuned...