Posted 8/16/23
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. -Heb 13:8…and several places else. 😉
Hi all! I hope all is well in your world! I have been buried up to my hat in work and haven’t had time to share lately, so I really appreciate your patience. 🙂
This piece will harken back to a few articles I have written over the last 5 years about good ole memories of Silver Dollar City. Here are a few of the pieces I have shared on the topic: LINK and LINK and LINK but most importantly here: LINK and LINK.
These last two links reference my absolute favorite ride in my roller coaster repertoire, if you will, named Fire in the Hole!!! I love it. It isn’t the fastest??? Not hardly! In fact, it isn’t the highest, the longest, the anything-est…but it holds a very special place in my heart as the best. This ride tells the story of the fiery destruction of the early city of Marmaros. Marmaros’ pre-ghost town erupted out of the demand caused by the guano mining at Marvel Cave. Legend…hazy legend, that is…has it that the Baldknobbers burned it to the ground. The Baldknobbers, written about here , before they were a popular local country music show were a 1880s vigilante group. My great, great grandpa was a Baldknobber. He was convicted then pardoned/exonerated of a murder that resulted in three men being “hanged from the neck until death” at the square in Ozark, MO. Fortunately for him, and vicariously for me, this is the case.
So fast forward nearly a century past the Baldknobbers and my favorite theme park, Silver Dollar City, builds a combo dark/roller coaster ride in 1972 celebrating this fire and the brave folks that put it out. It quickly and forever becomes my favorite ride…one I rode every single visit, at least once. I even had a form of its theme song memorized:
Fire in the Hole: The Song
“Baldknobbers comin’, ridin’ fast, armed with rifles, wearin’ masks”
“Baldknobbers comin’ they’re drawin’ near, everyone’s heart is filled with fear”
“Run boys run; don’t be slow, Baldknobbers comin’, there’s Fire in the Hole”
“Run boys run; don’t be slow, Baldknobbers comin’, there’s Fire in the Hole”
“Flames and smoke are rollin’ high, Baldknobbers set this town on fire”
“It was peacful livin’, ‘twas our home town ‘til the Baldknobbers came and they burned it down”
“Run boys run; don’t be slow, Baldknobbers comin’, there’s Fire in the Hole”
“Run boys run; don’t be slow, Baldknobbers comin’, there’s Fire in the Hole”
“Men and horses all over town, thunderin’ hooves that jar the ground”
“Ain’t no need for us hangin’ round, all our homes are ashes now”
“Fire on the mountain, woe be woe, fire on the mountain, Fire in the Hole”
“Fire on the mountain, woe be woe, fire on the mountain, Fire in the Hole”
Another version: LINK
Fast forward another 40+ years and this icon of a ride is announced as being closed.
🙁
Woe. Despair. Agony.
I hate when memories fizzle. Once something ceases to be anything but a memory, the stopwatch begins and pieces of memory, like sands through the hourglass, begin to fall into the void. I wanted much more for this ride.
🙁
Now……….Fast forward to two days ago when this announcement perked me up:
https://www.silverdollarcity.com/theme-park/attractions/rides/fire-in-the-hole/
🙂 Version 2 of Fire in the Hole…a $30m version of it!!!
Then guilt kicks in for even liking the one that replaced my favorite…
Now I wonder…Is it possible I could prefer the old one back? It is very likely. However, it is unfair to demand version 1 so much that I pre-hate version 2 and don’t visit it.
Could dementia like this a little, but in reverse? I mean, we have to accept the inevitable life changes wrought by the forthcoming brain changes, but how do we deal with them, if you will? Can we try to convince ourselves that the new person, person v2, will be better or at least similar to our favorite version that we have grown to love? Not easily. That is asking too much. I mean, objectively, could a withered version be 1 millionth as cool as a multimillion dollar one??? Things are very different. However, need we sit in despair one version of the person is worth (much) less if they are not exactly like what we are used to? I say no…that is also unfair.
See, dementia, friends, is a long ride, if you will. Massive changes don’t often happen overnight and sometimes take years to materialize. My mom, having just passed her 79th birthday, is well into her 14th year having the disease slowly eat away at her cognition. I have dedicated this blog, and the last 5 years especially, to seeing to it that I, like Teepa Snow recommends in this great explanation, focus on what is left and not worrying about what is gone. I encourage you to do the same. Fire in the Hole version 1 may very well be TERRIBLE compared to the powerhouse v2 to most. But a memory-less comparison sets up an unfair comparison. Flip it around a bit and think about your loved one. Find the Red Flanders pants moments…and soak them up. Sure life was easier and, in most ways, far better before dementia. However, the new has potential as well. (I know, I know…the analogy is all backwards…please, stretch your brain and try to get me here.) This version 2 mom has some positive points among the devastation and I refuse to give up on loving her as she is without considering them. Consider:
- Mom, very likely, has lost every single bad memory. No stories of lost loved ones. No regret. No anger.
- Mom seems to not be worried in any sense, something she struggled with for decades
- Mom has no political angst. Maui wildfires aren’t worrying her. She isn’t thinking about the national debt.
- She enjoys music even now
- She has no task list. No to-dos.
- I and my siblings have spent more time with her in person the last 5 years than ever.
Is this a dumb example/exercise? Perhaps. Maybe not dumb, but unfruitful. However, without reminding ourselves of this kind of thing, it is easy to spiral into despair. Our favorite version is going as fast as the new version is coming into view…and we have to work through it however we can. I say we soak up all the time we can with our loved ones at whatever state they are in and keep the memories of times past in our heart by not dwelling on the lost but the remaining. Oh, and one more thing…the v3 that will come in heaven some sweet day will blow both of these away. 🙂
Thank you for indulging me in their somewhat odd thought experiment. 🙂
#EndALZ
Update: She is doing fair these days. About 2 weeks ago, with no notice nor obvious reason, she got a different roommate. I am not sure if the old one moved away, passed away, or what exactly happened. She is much closer to mom’s progression and is a little more tense. Mom is sleeping much more this week than normal. The last 3 days she has slept through my Alan Jackson hymns concert and nearly through supper. Her O2 is in the mid-90s and she has no lung noise, so it may just be her being tired. I will keep plugging along and visiting regardless. 🙂