Swimming with Dolphins

One of my earliest childhood memories is swimming with dolphins. If I concentrate hard enough I can taste the salty sea water and remember the feeling of exhilaration as I splashed with those beautiful animals.

Sounds idyllic right? This is how that happened:

Aww. How cute, and dry.

Wait for it…

That’s right about two seconds after this picture was taken I FELL INTO THE DOLPHIN POOL AT SEA WORLD.

When I was a kid my dad was always really excited about experiences. When we went to an amusement park he always seemed to be briskly walking about 15 feet in front of us encouraging us to hurry up because he was so excited to get to the next ride or parade or whatever there was to see or do. As the above picture demonstrates he always encouraged us to experience what was available. Unfortunately in this moment he was encouraging me to reach further than was actually reasonable. Wanting me to be able to touch the dolphin turned into me swimming with it. I can clearly remember the panic that set in when I realized I had fallen from my dad’s arms and was now head under water, flailing in a pool of poorly tasting water. My childhood swimming lessons kicked in and I doggy paddled my way to the edge of the enclosure. It was only a matter of seconds before my dad plucked me from my submersion and set me on dry land. I don’t remember much else from that day except for the awful feeling of walking around an amusement park in wet clothes. Oh that’s right people! My fall into a pool full of swimming mammals was not enough to send my family home for the day! There are few forms of torture worse than your drenched clothing being suction cupped to your limbs for hours. I seem to remember being set under a bathroom hand dryer for a while too, adding insult to injury.

I tell this story because it is hilariously awesome, and also to illustrate the power of perspective. A childhood memory of swimming with dolphins may sounds like an experience to be desired. For me that was not the case. Sometimes it is easy to want what someone else has. I am trying to be content with what I have and not covet what I perceive someone else having. As the 90s classic Clueless describes it I think we can all be a Monet: “from far away, it’s OK, but up close, it’s a big old mess.” I’m learning that no one’s life is perfect so I might as well be happy with mine.

You should be jealous though, I did totally swim with dolphins.