111. I don’t know about you, but my husband and I are polar opposites. He’s a risk taker, a “fly by the seat of your pants” kinda guy. As for me, I’m a planner and more of a “play it safe” girl, but there’s one area where our personalities overlap…
We are both passionate about growth. And being stretched. And stepping outside of our comfort zone, even though it can feel scary sometimes.
So when my husband and I went on an epic cross country journey to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary a few years back, I should probably have known better than to do what I did.
I gave my husband one job… ONE JOB.
I’d planned the entire trip from Iowa to South Carolina to Tennessee, but I left ONE job up to Chad. “Babe, book us a zip line while we’re in the Smoky Mountains. I’m gonna be brave and do this with you.” I tossed him a brochure that had a small zip line course that overlooked beautiful waterfalls. Romantic right?!
What I didn’t know was there was a second zip line course and it was called “The Goliath Line.” It was 475 feet high and the passenger travels at over 55 mph. “We’re booked,” Chad told me. I had NO idea what was ahead…
We showed up at the Zip line check in.
“You’re down for the Goliath line,” our guide told us. I turned white, my eyes got huge and my stomach churned. I looked at Chad. He smiled at me. I had a moment of insanity andecided then and there I would do this thing.
We zipped a couple of “starter” lines. When it was my turn to jump off the first platform, I thought I was going to throw up. And this was like, the baby line. I didn’t want to look like a total chicken in front of the group that was zipping with us, plus I really DID want to have this experience with my husband, so I held my breath… and jumped. I made it to the other side alive and I decided zipping was actually pretty awesome.
We finally got to the last zipline of the tour… the GOLIATH. It was bigger, badder, longer, higher, SCARIER than I had even imagined. My prior thoughts about zip lining being awesome were completely diminished at that moment.