Cradle of Life

Work was slow today. I had a few meetings and that was about it. If it is slow tomorrow I am going to go home early.

I talked with an old friend of mine from college today. He and his wife are expecting their first child. The baby is due any day now. Sometimes it is hard to take it all in at once. They are living the American dream, I guess. A person gets married and they raise a family together. Somehow I don't see that in my immediate future. I am happy for them, but I fall into the category of single friend. Now that they will have a little one to care for I will probably hear from them even less.

I really need a vacation. Now I have to decide where I want to go. I was in Hawaii earlier this year, the Island of Oahu to be exact. While I was there, I almost became a drowning victim. It was the first time that I had ever swam in the Pacific Ocean. I was swimming along just fine, when I noticed that the shore was getting further and further from me. I was watching as one swell after another come rolling by me. All that I could do was keep treading water to keep my head above the waves. I was getting tired and started to head back to shore. Panic was at the edge of my mind. Was this how it was all going to end? I was having all sorts of thoughts of just going under and never coming back up. Then I saw my father on a surfboard and swam to him. I made it and clung to the board for all that I was worth. Soon a lifeguard was at our side and towed me in with some kind of floating belt around my waist. I could have cared less about what the people on shore thought when I staggered onto the beach. That was the most exhausted I had ever been in my entire life. It could have also been the end of my life.

There I was sheltered under a towel, completely exhausted and dehydrated. I had only been in Hawaii for a total of two hours. Welcome to the Aloha state. Everything after that first day was less traumatic.

The water almost claimed me for one of its own.