Kosraean Non-Fables

"Hey God, i'm back. i've missed our surf sessions.* Thank you for giving me such a cool place to SM. i couldn't have asked for a more intimate and exotic place to talk to you." i quickly peaked through my used-to-be closed eyelids to check for a death wave headed my way. There, looming not 10 yards in front of me, was what i had dreaded; a 7 foot high wall of water itching to grate my freshly sunburnt back on the coral below. Not only was i sitting in too far to survive, housed in this monstrosity of a wave, floated none other than our local, friendly reef shark. My eyes slammed shut, "Oh, and God? I'd love to be alive in an hour for our mid-week meeting. Thanks."

i inhaled one last breath and watched as the shark, not inched, not crept, but forcefully charged towards me. i pushed hard down on the rails, gave a hard kick to the tail, and thrust my body into the board. The wall crested as i desperately tried to sneak under it. As the barrel collapsed, i felt the weight of a few hundred gallons of water slam on my heels. Missed it by || that much.

As i resurfaced i immediately scanned the water for my buddy. No where to be found. "Thank you for the wave save, can i get the same deal on the shark? My mom would NOT be thrilled with me showing up on her doorstep legless. Thanks." i pull my feet onto my board and sit criss-cross applesauce as my eye begins to twitch. With every splash the twitch gets worse. Half of my face begins to droop; falling a little more with every mini-stroke. i'm usually not afraid of sharks, but i couldn't tell if the ding on my heel was bloody or not: i like my limbs the way God made them.

As if sent by God (not just an expression in this case), the perfect wave was welling up in front of me. i slid the board down and began paddling for my life. As i began to stand up, i took one more glance down the face of the wave. Less than two feet under the surface of the water the coral glowed brightly, as if to say, "Fall, let me scratch that itch for you".  With the shark behind me and nothing but a 300 yard, creepy, ominous, and completely terrifying shallow paddle back, i dropped down the wave towards safety, uttering genuine thank yous the entire way back.

*will post a brief story/lesson tomorrow regarding a past experience


Updates: Stepping on a sea urchin hurts. The school picnic was a blast, i spent the day swimming with 60 of my favorite students. i had a birthday, thank you to everyone for the good wishes and packages! We have rats in the ceiling, mice in the kitchen, and roaches in the living room, tomorrow they die. Don't forget to put the SD card in your camera, no one likes watching that video footage. We have 4 weeks in a row of 4 day weeks, 3 down one to go. Sleep more

All animal pests die,

Tyler