History Trippin' 

Don’t you hate it when you have a ridiculous phobia and your kids really want to do something that makes you face it?  I mean, you don’t want to pass on your fears and you don’t want to look like a weeny, but you also really want to avoid a panic attack.  Well, I happen to have an insane fear of both heights and tight spaces.  I know they aren't entirely rational, but try convincing my body of that when I'm standing near the edge of a big drop.  Fast forward to our tour of the St. Louis Gateway Arch .  The boys had been discussing going to the top to look out the windows.  Neither Daddy nor I were particularly enthused about going up.  It’s 630 feet tall and in order to get to the top you have to ride in a little metal “pod” that should hold 3 people, but instead they stuff 5 people inside (to ensure that all of the oxygen is used up by the time you get to the top).   Determined to get the job done, I bought our tickets without looking at the sample pod next to the ticket counter.  I didn’t even want to know what I was in for.  I just started praying.  This trip is not about fear.  It’s about really living, so I was going to the top, even if I had to puke in the pod on the way!  This would also be a real test for the medication that controls my dizziness because it's usually brought on by stress.  So how’d I do? Read on...