Underwater Haven

So this weekend is Memorial Day.  I've always understood what this weekend represents.  I've always honored Vets - on any day - but particularly this weekend.  I think it's important to remember the men and women that serve in the armed forces and that what they do gives us our freedom.  Their sacrifice provides us the opportunity to spend our weekends any way we see fit.  To honor their sacrifice, this weekend, I'm going diving.

Diving.  Underwater Haven.  There is just something about being able to spend an hour underwater, breathing and watching all of the creatures that live in that world.  I want to be able to teach my children not to be afraid of things.  To enjoy the world around them and to save the world.  I hope that one day, the worlds oceans will be a sanctuary that people, who respect the earth, can escape to on a regular basis.  I know that is what happens now for me and my friends.  It's a remarkable experience to be underwater.  To swim with the fish, catch crab and lobster and be stalked by baracuda's.

My sons will one day embrace this world.  They too will be able to swim with the sharks and turtles.  I wonder sometimes what this hobby will mean to them.  I wonder if I will push them into doing something they don't want to do.  Isn't that the fear of every parent.  To let their children grow into the people they are meant to be and not push them into something they aren't?

K wants to be a diver.  I don't think he truly grasps what that means though.  Because he DOES NOT want to take swim lessons.  It'll be very hard to dive if he won't learn to swim.  I think it's cute, but he insists when he's 10 he'll learn to dive.  Ok honey, good luck with that without knowing how to swim!  =)

I know that I had visions of my children playing football and winning the Super Bowl.  I never had visions of my children underwater for an hour.  Now I know how safe diving can be if you know what you're doing and you do it right.  I also know there is no way my husband will let the boys dive without knowing exactly how to do it right.  I also know I want them to learn - for all the above stated reasons and more - but what I know most of all...  It SCARES the HELL out of me!

That's right.  It scares me!  I know logically they will be fine, but the mere thought of them with tanks strapped to their backs and regs shoved in their mouths and that is the only thing keeping them alive?!?!  Scary, SCARY, SCARY, SCARY!!!!

But that's what makes being a parent so... scary.  This is an adventure I want my children to enjoy and learn to love.  But the thought of them in my Underwater Haven... makes my hair turn gray!  Being torn between these two very conflicting emotions... is as natural as the sharks swimming in the ocean.  I know that, but it doesn't stop the illogical thoughts from forming.

So I guess what I'm saying is this.  Enjoy the paradise that is underwater.  Just don't be surprised if I tether myself to your torso and never let you out of my sight when you're there!!!