My parents are getting ready to head out on a well-deserved cruise to Hawaii.  (Yay!)  I am so happy for them.  I get my obsessive planning tendencies from my parents, so it has been funny listening to all of their preparations for the trip.  One concern that I have though is that almost all of their activities revolve around snorkeling.

Snorkeling and I do not mix.  Not even a little bit.  Like many children of my time, I grew up watching Jaws.  In retrospect, I think I saw that movie just as often as My Little Pony.  I consider it a small victory that I am no longer afraid of sharks getting into the swimming pool.  I am not willing to test this theory in the open ocean even in those safe, “protected coves”.  I’ve seen that show River Monsters.  I know where sharks can go.

Ok, back to the snorkeling part.  I am going to share a picture of me snorkeling.  Now, one of the benefits of having a blog (or facebook page or whatever) is that you get to pick what picture of yourself you’re going to use.  I could pretend that all pictures of me are awesome.  That is a lie, as you are about to see.  See Exhibit A:

See?  There, I told you.

It’s all supposed to be worth it, right?  You’re going to see some amazing fish and coral.  Sure, let’s check out Exhibit B: a picture I took of the “amazing fish and coral.”

All 36 of the photos I took that day look exactly like this (except that sometimes the 5 fish change position).  Now my family assures me that there were so many incredible fish (blah blah blah) and somehow I just missed them.  They also tell me that snorkeling in some other places is so much better and more beautiful (blah blah blah) than this spot in Mexico.  Ok, fine.  I believe you.  I am willing to bet that the entire ocean looks like a scene from Finding Nemo with the exception of this one place.  But next time?  Just send me a picture.  It will be just like I’m there (minus embarrassing photo, Exhibit A.)

The upside of all this?  There is one family portrait from that trip that I truly love.  This is our whole family right before we got back to safety (I mean, the boat).  I think our family looks sort of cute here, all lined up with our snorkel masks.

When we got back from this vacation, our whole lives changed – in some ways for the better, in some ways – not.  My sister met her future husband on the cruise ship.  My mom, now a survivor, was diagnosed with cancer just a few months after this photo was taken.  However, through it all, our family has stuck together — treading water,  keeping each other afloat.  Seeing this picture reminds me to never take an experience for granted, not even snorkeling.

Mom and Dad, I hope you have a wonderful trip.  May you see all the fish I would miss.  I hope they flock to you like a thousand happy, new memories — enough to hold onto until the next time.  Maybe you can send me a picture.

Lots of love,