"Chase Tower- Houston, Texas"
written by Timothy McVain
September 5th, 2012
At 600 Travis street in the heart of
downtown Houston, Texas stands a magnificent structure called the
“Chase Tower”. I've always been afraid of heights and though I
don't mind being in the air while flying, both taking off and landing
have always caused me intense stress. I've never liked rapid changes
in altitude and though I've gotten used to the sensation of moving
quickly upwards and down in my job's antiquated elevators, I was not
prepared for the one at the tower. I have been to the Tower of the
Americas' revolving restaurant and the outdoor elevator frightened
me, but thankfully I was with my family members, the elevator
operator, and a few other tourists going to the observation deck.
I've been to Chicago, but my parents and I didn't have time to visit
the Sears Tower. I had researched the “Sky Lobby” at the Chase
Tower and watched a video on You Tube which featured a family taking
photos and looking out the very large wall sized windows, looking
down at the busy streets and the empty tops of the other skyscrapers, but nothing could have prepared me for my experience at the 60th
floor.
I had been walking around the bustling
streets during the morning rush hour foot and car traffic looking
around for the tower, mistaking a few other (shorter) buildings for
Chase's. Finally, I walked around a corner and as the strong cool
morning breeze blew from between the buildings, I stood before the
large structure, looking up into the sky and the clouds which scraped
its top. I saw the wall of windows where the Sky Lobby was located
and braced myself for the experience. Even then, at the foot of the
tower taking photos of it and the sculpture in its shadow, I had
doubts whether I should face my fear of heights and ride the elevator
to the room of windows. Encouraged by a friends text of support, I
walked inside and used their restroom. I was only 13 or so during the
9/11 attacks and the pictures and videos from that day haunted me as
I rode the escalator to the lower floor where the bathrooms were and
as I approached the large lobby of elevators marking all of the
different floors. There were six elevators marked “Sky Lobby” and
as I looked at each of them, dreading the opening of the one of the
doors, a man walked up confidently and hit the “up” button,
looking back and smiling at me as a door opened and I followed him
slowly. I asked him if the elevator went to the Sky Lobby, I was
already beginning to feel intense anxiety. He smiled and held the
elevator door open for me, inviting me in as two other men also
walked inside. I stood in the back corner, hands gripping the side
rail as the door closed and all of us stood with our heads down,
waiting for the elevator to move.
Suddenly we were being shot into the
air vertically rising faster than any elevator I've ever been on and
to distract myself I tried to decipher the name tag hanging from the
briefcase of the man standing next to me. I watched the other men's
faces as the elevator rose and thought about how they took this
elevator to their job everyday maybe even a couple of times a day.
The elevator shook and made a loud hissing noise as we rose. My hands
were sweating and there was sweat coming down from my forehead over
my eyes. I was afraid to wipe the sweat for fear of letting go of the
handlebars. Finally the elevator stopped rising and came to a sudden
halt, the doors shaking. We all lifted our heads as the reflective
doors opened and I'll never forget when I first saw that gleam of
light coming from the room and the moment I was faced with the fact
that I had to exit the elevator, I had to walk out into the viewing
area high above all of the other buildings.
The men walked
confidently, professionally, naturally out of the elevator as I
slowly stepped from the suspended elevator to the gray carpet of the
Sky Lobby. I tried not to focus on the tower's sounds and the sense
that I was basically walking on air without any support beneath me,
feeling the wind against the tower as it swayed. The men turned and
went down a hall to their jobs while I was left, completely alone, in
a room of windows facing the other skyscrapers and clouds and all of
Houston below me. Thankfully, there were two sculptures and a large
display explaining what they were and I used these as my centers of
focus when it was too hard to look out the windows. I pretended to be
interested in the sculpture, but my eyes wouldn't stop drifting
toward the bright windows and the scene before me.
I've never seen something so beautiful
in my entire life. I saw the top of buildings that were impossibly
tall and supernaturally gorgeous; I felt that I was standing among giants. I
ventured out further towards the windows, never getting more than a foot away
from the edge for fear of seeing the bottom of the tower. I took
photos, admired the view from such a great height, and then my heart
sank to my feet as one of the elevators rose to the floor and opened
its doors shaking the ground beneath me and making me feel extremely
on edge. This is when I began to notice that not only my sweaty palms
and hands, but my entire body was shaking. I was going to take the
elevator down with a woman who was waiting for another one to rise,
but I decided that I should push through and take a few more pictures
of the older buildings below. I reached my hand out to take a photo
of buildings closer to the edge of the room; I'm so glad I have long
arms.
Finally, I couldn't take it any more and my chest was beginning
to be tight as I saw a plane flying around from the airport. I went
to the elevator and stepped inside, not thinking about which elevator
it was. The doors slowly shut as the great windowed room's scene was
being covered like a stage presentation is concealed with the closing
of the curtains. The elevator began to descend and I realized I had
stepped into the one which shook the floor of the lobby and was the
most rickety. The entire, lonely, ride down was so scary with the
shaking, what seemed to be the banging against the inner walls of the
building as I fell from the sky to the ground. The ride ended with a
hard landing and sudden opening of the great doors. It took all of my strength and pride to get my feet walking again, onto
solid ground. Skipping minor detours to take photos of
other buildings, I went straight back to my car, my body still in shock and continue to shake. It was a terrifying experience, but it was worth it for the
photos I got and the pride of knowing I courageously faced a fear of
mine and took a bold step to overcome it.
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