10.2 Animals - Carousel

Bestest Friend and I are in the middle of a blog project. Each day of the month we will post a picture on a pre-determined theme and write a little something about it. The theme for the second day of each month is "Animals."
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As a special treat for being an extra special snowflake, my high school physics teacher sent me and a few other special snowflakes to a nearby amusement park to complete a packet (how many g's on the roller coaster? what's the circumference of the racecar track?).  I honestly have very little memory of this excursion, but I do remember spending an inordinate amount of time counting the lights on the Ferris wheel.

When I was in Minnesota a couple of weeks ago and my nephew wanted to ride the carousel, I stood there waiting for him to make it through the line and I was a bit overwhelmed. I was wearing my coat and carrying my nephew's, so sweat was trickling down my back.  I could hear the chatter of thousands of people echoing through this enormous enclosed park, the tinkling music of the carousel, and my brother-in-law asking me questions.  There was a baby screaming somewhere near, my fingers were swollen from dehydration, and all I could see in front of me were the lights.

Ignoring my brother-in-law (I am so rude), I began counting the lights. Each mirror had 40. There were 15 mirrors.  Each panel had 65. There were 7 panels. Each section of the circumference had 30. There were 10 sections.

Slowly, I calmed down. I did the multiplication in my head, shaking my head when I had to carry.  And then when I saw my nephew go around, I didn't hear the noise or feel like I was going to collapse from the heat.  Instead, I saw his big smile, and I waved at him and watched as he waved back. The next time around, I made a funny face and I could hear his giggles until he came around again.

It turns out high school physics was good for something in my life after all.

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To see what Bestest Friend wrote about the theme of the day, check out her blog, Too Legit to Quit.