We finished our scuba course today: we now have four certified divers in our family. We loved the diving, but after three days in and out of the water, learning, we were so tired that we all – including the teens! – took a nap. 

The sun is slowly setting as I sit on the porch and try to find words for what it was like to experience this part of the planet we live on. Even after the nap, I’m so tired that words just keep swirling around. Our instructor told us that it’s the effects of pressure changes on the body, and he knows more than I do. Either way, I can barely think, so for today I will let words swirl and aim for watercolour impressionism:

Under the blue
Kneel on the white sand and
pass the tiny crab from hand to waiting hand;
watch the clear blue shrimp wave their antennae, safely tucked in 
the tentacles of the curly anemone that peeks out from under a shell.
Breathe.
Silver bubbles rise.
Touch the anchor of the wreck –
No rust, but maybe luck, rubs off.
Ascend no faster than your silver bubbles.
Breathe.
Equalize.
Fly from coral mountain peak to coral mountain peak.
Although the deep blue beckons below,
Don’t descend.
Know your limits;
Share your air;
Practice breathing
as the gray sharks swim by and one turns, curious.
Who are you to be in her world?
Hover over a sting ray as she feeds,
disturbing the white sand on which you have knelt
elsewhere
under the deep blue ocean.
Breathe.
Rise with your silver bubbles.