The Funny Feeling Of Falling

 
I have been a dunkee in a dunking booth.

A couple of Sundays ago, my church had a fall fest/birthday party (for the church) that included a bounce house, cake walk, plenty of food and what turned out to be the highlight: a dunk tank. Everyone gathered around as our pastor sat at the top of the tank, waiting to be dunked. Kids of all ages lined up and were handed balls that they threw at the round red button that released the seat, causing the person sitting on it to fall down into the tank of water. There were a lot of misses, but overall Pastor Kyle was dunked again and again, to cheers from the crowd. The Youth Pastor and the Children's Minister each took a turn in the tank as well, before I too changed into shorts and a t-shirt and climbed into the tank.

It was an odd feeling to sit in the tank. My feet dangled above the water and a metal cage surrounded me, protecting me from stray balls. I found myself tensing up, preparing for that moment when the seat would be activated and I would fall into the tank. When it finally happened it was over in a moment: hit, fall, dunk, popping up laughing and climbing back onto the seat to do it again. It was fun, but even though I was watching for the ball, even though I prepared myself for the dunk, the feeling of falling caught me by surprise every time.

There's just something about that moment when there's nothing underneath you and gravity pulls you downward in it's relentless way. When I went skydiving, the moment was heightened (literally), but was different because the falling takes so long. I was falling and falling and falling and because of the distance and the parachute it started to not seem so much like falling. I could enjoy the view and the feeling of the air rushing past. But in the dunk tank, the moment of falling was compacted into less than a second before I hit the water and my feet landed on the bottom of the tank. Yet somehow the quickness felt like more of a shock. I felt it in my stomach and wham, water. That funny feeling again and again.

I wonder how a dunking tank was invented. Who had the idea: "Hey, let's create this device that drops someone into the water when you hit a target with a ball! That would be so fun!" However it came about, the idea was pretty ingenious because it's certainly entertaining. There's skill needed to hit the target, amusing reward when the person is dunked, and anticipation and even thrill of the fall by the dunkee. I would do it again! I hadn't fully planned on it either, but I'm glad it worked out for me to be a part of it. The compressed feeling of falling: each time there was a miniature moment of panic, before I landed and it was all okay. Though I fell, it was okay.