Weekend in the Water

A great weekend is one when you chip away at your bucket list, coming one step closer to checking off a life goal. I had one of those weekends. And it was fab-U-lous.

With my husband, I participated in two training-intensive days of scuba classes. The course we're taking is called Open Water Diver and is Scuba Schools International's (SSI) basic certification curriculum. 

The classroom segment of each day covered what happens to your body as you descend and are subjected to the increasing atmospheric pressure of deep water. We learned in theory how to avoid disastrous underwater scenarios and how to deal with potential emergency situations. Each three-and-a half-hour-long classroom session was followed by three-and-a-half more hours in the pool, practicing the skills in which we must be proficient to become certified divers.

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Skills I practiced included: controlling my descents and assents; equalizing the pressure in my ears; achieving neutral buoyancy; removing the regulator from my mouth and replacing it; recovering the regulator (in the event it should be knocked free and floating behind me, out of view); clearing water from my mask; sharing air, in the event I or my buddy runs out of air; and underwater hand signals. 

The skill that freaked me out the most, at first, was removing my mask underwater. To demonstrate the skill, I had to take the mask completely off, put it back on, and clear it of water. The trick is to stay calm and keep breathing through the regulator. It's hard to trust that you won't accidentally take water up your nose. (You don't :D)

To complete our certification, hubs and I will do four open water dives in Florida this June. I have no apprehension whatsoever about exhibiting the skills I performed in the pool, on the floor of Gulf of Mexico. Actually, I'm super excited to get that gear on and get back in the water. I'm hooked on diving already!

What's the next item on your bucket list you'll go after? 

                                   

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Fast Forward

 

Life moves forward at break-neck speed, and last week was no exception. (Kelly Rippa and her co-host today Carson Kressley  just informed me April is Stress Awareness Month. I don't need a movement to be aware, I can tell you that.) In addition to the kids being on Spring Break and eager for at least one adventure a day, I had the refinancing of our house to contend with.


Putting together numerous paper trail records in a paperless world, and then scanning them so they become paperless again, had me teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown.


When it got really bad, I plonked down the mountain of paperwork at took the kids to see the Hunger Games, again. It was even better the second time!


Nothing reminds you of your financial obligations like refinancing a home. With property depreciation across the market, we're licking a $45K loss wound. Depression hovers like early morning haze. So, this week I brought out the sun.


I created a new board on my Pinterest wall. It's simply called, My Bucket List. The act of transferring my deepest desires into web-found images, where they materialize into tangible possibilities, has breathed new life force into my soul.


"Write a Novel" is on my list, of course. More on that later.


I only have 25 or so pins up, but the list will continue to grow. And I'm excited to say one item is already going to be checked off. My husband and I are currently working on our SCUBA Diving Certification. Fun!


To see My Bucket List board, CLICK HERE.


Life moves forward, so enjoy every lovely/maddening/beautiful/stressful/creative moment. And work to find your bliss, every.single.day.


Thanks for reading!

                                   

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