The Extended Metaphor

As I prepare to enter a new phase of my life , I remember the feelings I used to get as a child getting aboard the rollercoaster for the quick but terrifying rides around the track . Now as then the anticipation of the twists and turns that were about to approach was often both the best and the worst of the experience . Standing in line waiting , hearing the screams of terror and of excitement of the people ahead of me made me realize both the scope of this experience and the excitement about to

come into my life . Hearing the other riders talk around me , too , was part of the excitement of anticipation , knowing that they , too , would share in my experience but never see the ride the same way that I do and never experience its corners and sudden drops with the same intensity that I might experience them . Standing there in the crowded bustling line , listening with eager and nervous anticipation to the hollers and screams coming from the ride as it circled above me and around me , I realized deep in myself that I was taking this ride alone that I could rely only on myself to hang on and to negotiate the nerves and the challenges with success

My feelings are those of climbing into the rollercoaster car . Leaving the comfort of the solid platform of the knowable world , the grounded world , I step willingly but nervously into a world that , though mechanically proven , seems so foreign to me , almost suspended in time and in space by some magical force . Stepping into the car , I made a commitment to this experience , to put my trust in gravity , in the machinery around me , and in my own ability to make the best of the situation as it unfolds around me . Confident in my abilities to manage the world of the platform and of the line , I take a deep breath and calm myself , knowing that I have handled similar , though smaller , rides in the past , and that this experience will prove a great challenge , to be sure , but will also be incredibly rewarding . As the car begins to roll forward , and I enter a new stage of the ride , these feelings of letting go and of moving away from the platform intensifies . I will come back to this same platform safely in moments , this I know , but I will not return as the same person I will be a rider , when I return , and I will have stories to tell and corners to remember , and drops to recall with a mixture of joy and trepidation

As the car turns the first corner to this new experience , I look ahead at the first hill , the biggest and most daunting of the ride . I know that if I make the crest of this challenge , it is , literally , a downhill ride until the end . Sure the corners are still there , and the dips and drops and loops loom large in the...