Ugh.

The story is awful–a family on vacation…an “adult woman” brave enough to ride a pretty scary ride. Allegations of nonchalant staff. A terrible death.

I find the subtle details moving and appalling–the woman trying to vouchsafe her belting–had it clicked? Was it going to hold? The terrible shock and grief of her family–watching her fall.

The most jarring part is that when she paid her ticket she assumed she would be alive at the end of the day. The emotionless capitalism of the park is also highly discordant. They kept the park open? Adult woman?

They want us to know she was older….as though her tragic death could be mitigated by her age.

Grief is grief and a family has lost their mother. Disfiguring.

I don’t do roller coasters for anyone over the age of 8. I do kiddie coasters and that is all.

No skydiving. No cliff diving. I am an unvarnished scaredy cat.

Which is why this story resonates with me so. Some lives are like roller coaster rides. We don’t know anything about our future and often we trust the wrong people.

I am praying for the family. I am praying as well that someone, anyone, will say–hey, this is not safe! We have to fix this…do things better.

Or just enough time to say…

Let us share this grief together.