Adrenaline Rush

You know, the adrenaline rush you get from a rollercoaster or white water rafting or some such activity is great. The racing heart, the sharpening of all your senses and the sheer exhilaration of the moment makes you feel alive in the best sense of the word.

The rush you get from a near miss in real life, well, that's a bit different. The same physical and chemical reaction takes place, but it's not so much exhilaration, at least in my experience. It's more of a thankfulness of surviving.

Let me explain.

I remember a time when I went to a party at a friend's house. Yes, I actually remember the party and the aftermath. Keep your comments to yourself.

Anyway, I went over about four o'clock in the afternoon to help set up for the party. Ice tubs in place, beach in the basement with the palm trees and all the music lined up and ready to play. I was a designated driver/picker-upper/cleaner, so I remained one of the few sober people for the night.

The party was a success and most of the damage was repaired before I left for home. By now, I had been awake for about twenty-two hours and was feeling the effect. As I left my friend's place, the sun was coming up right in front of me. I do remember driving over the reservoir and thinking what a beautiful morning it was, then I was about three kilometers from home.

What I don't remember was the intervening ten kilometers of the actual driving part! I bolted up straight in the driver's seat and looked around frantically to see if there were any wrecked cars in my wake or police chasing me. Nothing there, to my great relief.

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That jolt of adrenaline lasted all the way home and about an hour after I got into bed. Of course, just as I fell asleep, my folks woke me up for weekend chores, but that's another story.

Another instance happened when I was living in the mountains. My friend and I had been in the city all day, doing the required bi-weekly shopping trip. It was running close to midnight when I dropped off my friend in the small town and I was pooped. I asked if I could crash on the chesterfield for the night, but it turned out that my friend's roommate had a bunch of people over for the weekend.

Besides, my friend said, it's only another twenty minutes back to your place, you'll be fine! That's what they say in all the horror flicks just before things go terribly wrong…

So I'm back on the road, in my little Toyota station wagon returning to my place and just getting out of town for the twenty minute trip. Just as I accelerated up to 100 km/hr and turned the corner on the highway, my headlights picked up a large herd of elk in the middle of the road.

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I had no chance to do anything but stare at the belly fur of six or seven elk as I hit the only gap in the herd of thirty of the thousand-pound animals. The adrenaline dumped into my body just as I cleared the herd and I was exceptionally aware of the next eighteen minutes, thirty-two point seven six seconds it took to get home.

It took me another six or seven minutes to pry my fingers off the steering wheel and find the door handle, which worked out perfectly. It was about that long for my legs to stop shaking so I could walk into my cabin.

After that, amusement park rides just weren't as exciting as they used to be…

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