And there I was, in front of a park full of people, caught in the tight grip of the kiddie swing at the embarrassing age of seventeen. The day had started off with an innocent trip to the park with a close friend. It was a nice summer day and I thought that nothing could go wrong, yet I soon found myself in the most embarrassing situation of my life. Because of my competitive and extroverted nature, my “friend” knew I wouldn’t be able to say no once she dared me to try and fit myself into a swing that was much too small for me. My legs were jammed into a place that they had no business being. That vicious little piece of rubber felt like a monster that was devouring me, legs first, so as to force me to endure every second of the shame that I had earned. The feeling in my legs slowly began to fade away as they grew tinted with a purple hue. Panic had finally consumed me at that point and I had a feeling that it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.  I couldn’t stop thinking about what was going to happen to me. Was I going to lose both of my legs and be in a wheel chair for the rest of my life?

I was crying like a baby when a bystander offered to return to his house that was nearby and get a hacksaw. He began to saw through the rubber with ease in an attempt to free me, only to be suddenly stopped. Who knew that there was a large metal bar running through the middle of that rubber piece of crap? It was clear to everyone that the hacksaw would not be enough. At least this man tried to help me. The rest of the people standing around, including children and adults of all ages, just stared at me in quiet embarrassment. Some were laughing at me, some were whispering, and some people were just blatantly staring while they caught my ordeal on film. After a failed attempt at cutting me loose, there was nothing left to do but call the fire department.

Upon their arrival, it was made immediately clear how comical they thought the situation to be. As the firemen assessed the situation, I could hear the snickers and giggles that they had attempted to conceal from me. Even if they had successfully been able to hide their laughter, the comical looks on their faces told me everything that I needed to know. I was sure that I would be the butt of their jokes for some time. After the firemen brought back the tool that they were going to use to extricate me from my prison, the sobbing began all over again. I couldn’t believe that I was going to be cut out of a kiddie swing with the freaking Jaws of Life! As they began to wedge that enormous pair of hedge clippers in to the very small space between my leg and the swing, I began to think about the fact that the Jaws of Life are used to cut through steel and other metals with great ease. This also means that it could cut through my femur like butter in the sun. The second that I came to that realization, I couldn’t believe that I had gotten myself in to such an idiotic situation. By the time those thoughts were completed, I was finally freed from that damned kiddie swing. Who knew that a simple trip to the park would turn out to be one of me most embarrassing moments in my life?