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| Eli Graft Class of 2021 |
I’ve never dabbled in stream of consciousness before but I decided that a blog post where I can say whatever I want would be a good place to start. This will be Eli Graft’s mind flowing out into a Word document. But I will be focusing on one thing that’s been on my mind in particular. This may be a rocky ride and those reading this may have trouble interpreting the full meaning; however, it has meaning to me and for all intents and purposes that’s really what this is for. Also, to avoid confusion I will be using real punctuation much unlike my dear old friend e.e. cummings who made his stream of consciousness much more difficult to decipher. Anyway, to get back to the nitty gritty, I’ll be trying to delve into this reoccurring theme that has been on my mind so that hopefully I can convey how I’ve been feeling lately.
For some reason, as of late, I have been randomly thinking about Kings Island. Every time it pops into my head, I get this warm feeling of happiness accompanied with a slight tinge of nostalgia. This has been happening nearly every day since winter break. Sometimes it comes multiple times a day. But I don’t know why Kings Island been enshrined in my head for so long.
I’ve experienced a lot at Kings Island, but when the park comes to mind, the memories in particular haven’t been resurfacing, but more just the theme park itself. Almost like it’s an entity encompassing my life experiences into one.
Up until 6th grade, I had never been to Kings Island. All my friends had gone and were shocked to find out that I never had. It became a sore spot that so many people had gone to this fabled land of crazy rides and wild fun and I hadn’t. But that changed when my Student Technology Leadership Program decided to take an “educational day” to head up to the park. I was beyond excited and I had no idea what to expect. Once I got there, I knew I was going to have a good day. My mom had packed me a whole bag of things just in case anything were to happen to me. This included $40, a pair of jeans, two water bottles, and a bottle of sunscreen. Boy was I prepared. Little did I know that I wasn’t going to ever have to use that sunscreen because after 2 hours at the park, a torrential downpour came through. Everyone scrambled into the Oktoberfest pavilion, the biggest dry area in the park.
My friends and I were sitting bored for over an hour as the rain continued to pour. Soon, we were becoming restless. My friend Jonathan stood up and told me if I went out into the rain and stayed there for 10 minutes I would get $20. I would never shrink away from a seemingly risk free bet so I took his challenge. I handed my big bag over to my lifelong best friend Max and trudged out into the pouring rain. After 10 whole minutes of standing out there freezing, I finally got to come back inside the pavilion. My very first thought was my bag. I had no idea where it went. My little mind started racing. I know I gave it to Max. Where’d he put it? Max had laid it on top of a garbage can near where I was standing but it wasn’t there now. So where could it be? We searched for at least half an hour around that pavilion and it was nowhere to be found. Never got my $20 for standing out in the rain either now that I think about it.
Even though that was a horrible first experience, the rides I rode that day were phenomenal and I knew I had to come back.
I returned many a time to that place especially after my sophomore year of high school when I had a Gold Pass that let me in any time I wanted to go. Around that time I had just begun to date a girl and we went there so many times together. We would always have a blast. The only times I went that summer were with her, and being my one and only girlfriend ever, all those memories are tied to just one person. Now that we are no longer dating, I really do think this is why Kings Island has been popping up so much lately. Ever since our winter break heartbreak after three years of dating, I didn’t think that Kings Island would be so prevalent in my thinking. But really, a lot of the happy times in our relationship were at the park.
I honestly have connected Kings Island to my life in a lot of ways. There are so many bad things that happen in life, but I’m still living and I know happier things are going to come later. When I think of Kings Island, I never have any sadness in my heart. It’s still always just that warm happiness and nostalgia. You’d think after all the stuff I went through with losing so much money and dealing with my past relationship would tarnish it all, but it’s not tarnished. I think that’s supposed to be some sort of sign. That’s how I should think about life. Looking back, I want to think about the good things and not dwell on the bad. As my life goes on, I will revisit Kings Island, and now I have a whole new perspective to visit with.
Eli Graft, of Hebron, Ky., is a freshman McConnell Scholar studying business and political science.