I took a trip recently to Puerto Rico. Who knew it would be such a life changing experience. Six days in a Spanish speaking paradise. 1200 miles out of my comfort zone to stay on a puny island surrounded by water (my least favorite thing in the world and one of my biggest fears) with a friend who loves to snorkel and dive.  I had stressed since November when my friend asked me if I wanted to go about being in the water. The fear of drowning, being in the water, the currents, having my ears and head under water haunted me for months.  My friend had no idea the fear stewing inside.  When I arrived to the island at 2:00 in the morning after being on two airplanes full of Spanish speaking families going to PR to celebrate Easter, I was disappointed. Disappointed that the place we were staying was not what I was expecting. Wish I would have taken pictures. But I found out it was temporary.  Then we moved to our rental on the ocean with the most amazing view and all that water! It is pretty to look at and the sun amazingly hot. If this is heaven, take me now.  Then my friend said she was going to go snorkeling and I jumped up and said, "I'll go too!" What! Am  I nuts? But decided I needed to try it. I'm in a place where I can see coral from the deck.  We get to the spot where we are going to snorkel. I carefully wrap my hearing aids and bury them in the sand. How horrible to get those stolen! We go out into the water and I am doing ok. Showing my brave face and convincing myself that this is ok.

My friend shows me how to put on the mask. Never mind 4 feet waves are crashing in the distance and the current can carry me out to oblivion.  I do what she says. Spit, rinse and wipe with my fingers, move all the hair away from my face, put them on and make sure there is a seal. Dunk my face in to check for leaks.  (yeah right) I did it. I dunked my head in and this wave of awe hits me. I dunk my face in again and am in an amazed state of the beauty I was that I was seeing only feet from the shore.  I was hooked.  Me, the person afraid of the water who can barely swim wants to go. I push the fear aside and follow my friend's lead. I'm giddy now with excitement and the fish! The fish are so awesome.  The fingers of the coral so colorful. The octopus! Not one but two. I seen the octopus and another fish pecking at it. It turns black and yellow right before my eyes! And I saw what I think is a black and white banded eel along the bottom.  I'm fascinated and follow it blocking out the unknown worry of it coming to get me.  Then big waves crash over me and it is all white and bubbly. A wave of panic spreads only for a few seconds. What could I do. I had to shove the panic away and get to grips. I'm out in the water quite a ways away from shore and I'm having fun. I can't get scared. I want to see more. Anyways, we snorkel two more times. Once I got caught in the current and dragged across spikey coral and ended up with coral splinters. I have scars from it that I proudly wear.

Well, I have decided to take snorkeling lessons to learn some of the things I need to know about snorkeling. What?! Amazing, this person who is afraid to swim and be in water.  Who knew this would wake up my inner love of snorkeling and water. I'm super proud of myself and can't wait to do it again.

I will write more about PR. But this is already so long!