Day 15 Here Comes the Dawn

"The richness I achieve comes from Nature, 

the source of my inspiration." 

Claude Monet

Gwynn follows me tentatively at first, then curiously. Dawn is just breaking. The world is still Navy blue outside and the clouds are still dark shapes in the sky. The golden glow of sunrise begins to peek in the horizon and the waves crash softly onto shore. The sea has ebbed but the lava shelf glisten telling me that the waves must have been much higher this morning. The lava shelf is about 20-30 feet from sea level. It is 66 degrees out with a cool breeze that gently rustle the trees. The fresh scent of pine needles and the ocean mix harmoniously and I take great big breaths to savor the morning.

I sit on a flat lava rock and Gwynn comes close to sit with me. I give her a kiss and pet her head. Together, we watch as the sun gives color to the world.

Day 14 A Sailor and a Story

Sitting at the bar at a Chili's, I exchanged stories and laughter with my colleagues. Ground school has ended and we are enjoying our last few hours with each other before our planes leave for our respective islands. It was an intense 10-day training but it was also fun. What an excellent group of people!

As we sat chatting, an elderly gentleman sat next to us and started a conversation with Aspen. They were talking about the USS Missouri museum ship at Pearl Harbor. He was stationed on that ship in the 1940s. 12 years ago, he became a volunteer to help care for it.

I asked him how it was like to be back on his old ship. With a nostalgic glint in his eyes, he told us that he thought he would never see his ship again. He never would have thought that he would be back on it 40-some odd years later. He gave us his card and asked that we call him. He was eager to give us a tour of his ship. I immediately saved his information. That is an opportunity I would gladly take. I've been on the USS Missouri a few years ago but I think a tour from a sailor who was stationed on it would be spectacular. I love old vets and their sea stories.

Day 13 Snakes Molt

Just had a quick chat with my husband. He has to go to bed soon. He has another early day tomorrow. The dive shop has been very busy and he has some tourists to take on two dives in the morning.

I imagine his dive gear hanging under our lanai. His boots, fins, BCD, mask, and snorkel meticulously rinsed and carefully arranged for efficacious drying. His dive suit attentively hung so no stray wrinkles or unnecessary folds are visible. I smile at the thought of his plastic bin where he stores and hauls all his dive gear in. He has painstakingly personalized it with stickers and morale patches that speak loudly of Tom. His fastidious personality personifies the pride he takes in what he does and how he represents himself. On occasion, he'll slip and call his dive suit his uniform. In a manner of speaking, it is . . . now . . .

For 14 years, he took pride in wearing a different uniform. For 14 years, he meticulously cared for different gear and tools of the trade.

Almost exactly a year ago, he began the painstaking process of separating from the Navy along with thousands of other sailors who would be joining the ranks of the civilian world. He was going to be yanked out of his comfort zone, to a world he's known for 14 years, and thrown into another where life is unfamiliar and the expectations are unknown.

Together, we took a leap of faith into the unknown. A year ago, he couldn't imagine not donning his Navy uniform and going to work like he has done for 14 years. He couldn't imagine himself being anything and doing anything else.

Tomorrow, he'll wake up early, drive to the ocean, and put on a new uniform. When snakes molt, they leave behind their old skins and emerge shiny and new and more beautiful.

Tom molted and emerged better than ever, more than he himself thought possible. In much less time than the average, he became Dive Master and is now taking tourists out to an ocean he previously had no knowledge of.

What could be better than having the ocean he loves as his office?

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The picture above was taken by a newspaper photographer a few months ago for an article that featured veterans who couldn't find work. It was a good piece. I cheated on this post since it isn't a picture I've taken; but it is such a great representation of the thoughts I want to share.

Day 12 A Bonding Experience

Another long day of training ended. Lindsay told me as I hurriedly walked out the door that she and Aspen had an appointment for a massage around 6 pm. I thought about it. I thought about the studying I had yet to do and another paper I had yet to start. It was 4:30 pm. Should I?

When I got back to my room, I thought about how much homework I had to get done . . . and called Lindsay. "Hey, do you think the place can take another person in at 6?" She called the massage parlor and, yes, they could fit me in.

This place is tucked into a corner among other non-descript stores. The sign was big enough, though, that it would have been hard to miss. Lindsay said, "This place looks like one of those happy ending places. It should be good, though." Her remarked solicited loud chuckling from some guys we passed as we walked.

My first thought as we walked into the parlor was, "Goodness, it's hot in here" because it was. It was hot and muggy. It was only as we left the place that I realized, 'Oh, of course. It's a sauna!'

The receptionist showed us around. The place was much bigger than it looked from the outside. There was a changing room, dry, wet, and steam saunas, a cold pool, a hot whirlpool, and the rows of massage tables.

Nothing different from spas I've been in before. Then . . .  I noticed the stark naked customers walking around. The receptionist gave us towels and our locker keys. Hmm. Did I shave? I'm sure no one will notice, right?

It was unexpected. The entire experience was unexpected. We were scrubbed cleaner than a newborn and massaged head to toe with hot oil by some very strong Japanese women in their, uh, 50s? 60s? (They're Asian. They could've been 80something).

2 and a half hours later, we emerged transformed. We have skins soft as neonates, muscles as supple as kneaded clay, and souls renewed ready for anything.

What a wondrous bonding experience. Lindsay, Aspen. After that, no secret is sacred . . .

Day 11 A Pondful of Koi

I deliberately stood in the sun for a few minutes enjoying the warmth and the blue of the sky. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and the view from my room afforded only so much admiration for it.

I took a walk around the mall. The shopping was good but the people-watching was even better. Ala Moana Center is an excellent place to people-watch. People from all over the world in all manners of dress and character mingle about. The mall is alive and colorful. Excitement of varying degrees float in the air.

A couple kiss and hold hands as they gaze at rings through a shop window. Teenage girls walk out of Skechers giggling and peering into bags of new purchases. A man cleans his sunglasses with his shirt and walks into the Oakley store. A woman loudly announces to her significant other (and to the rest of the world) that he should've bought her "the purse." Her shirt reads "Watch me." A girl of about 4 runs into Disney and her father helplessly follow pushing a stroller carrying a boy of about 2. A group of Japanese tourists stand at the food court deciding what to eat.

I sat to drink and enjoy my honeydew bubble drink next to a pond and watch as an elderly man fed the koi fish. I smiled and was amused at how so very like the koi fish people are. All so different with their own spots and markings.

I sat and watched the koi fish for a while more then slowly made my way back to the hotel enjoying more people-watching.

Day 10 Party Like A Rock Star

Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes; a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day. 


Dalai Lama

It's the end of a long training week. Ground school grinds down its 5th day. Everyone is ready for a break. At the AMR Christmas Party, we got just that.

It was a great time. Everyone won, at least, one prize at our table. Most of us brought home two. We played games and had the chance to know each other a little bit more.  I felt a little closer to my co-workers and slowly formed friendships that I hope to keep for years to come.

It was an excellent party. The spoils of our fun is evidenced by the photo above. Some of us were more inebriated than others but an awesome time had been had by all. 

I managed to make it back to my room without falling down inspite of my 4-inch heels. Like the professionals that we were, we all showed up on time for one more day of training the next day. I wonder if anyone remembers what we did that day . . .

Day 9 Peek a Boo Baby

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. 

I am clearly not an OB nurse, so when a volunteer was needed to help deliver a baby in simulation lab, I opted out. I took pictures and videos instead.

28 paramedics and nurses stood in a small room all amazed at this state-of-the-art simulation manikin that gives a close to life encounter of a birthing mother. What amazed us most, however, was the "bleeding" added to the whole experience.

Am I glad to have seen that? Sure. I can only cross my fingers, however, and hope that I don't ever do that in real life (as in me as a nurse, not the mother; though, that, too, was scary to witness).