Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to my sister, who is now 25. Just when you're about to catch up to me, I get another year older too. Guess I'll always be 3 years older. Happy surgery to my dad. Sounds like everything went as good as it could have. And they'll have that catheter out in no time. Happy Mother's Day to my mom, and happy anniversary to my parents, too. Write me if I missed you. Happy Beckett going for 7/0 (there's no dash key on this keyboard/ that's gonna cramp my style).
Chilling out on this island, Utila. You can see the mountains of Honduras' mainland from here, and great stars and sunrises/sets. Actually, I know the sunrises well, because my watch somehow got set back to Boston time, so I've been up for them, and pissed, too, because everyone else in my class keeps coming 2 hours late to everything. Really, I figured it out after the first time it happened, but not before I woke my sorry ass up at 4.30am and stood on the dock for two hours in a tizzy while I got the holy hell bit out of me by the dawn mosquito bumrush. Then everyone came and we went on the mother of all dives. I haven't been diving since Victor and I went for lobsters this past fall, and before that not since Fiji in 2003, and so for my first dive, we had a nice easy little jaunt to 40m (that's 130ft, the absolute deepest you're ever allowed to go without, well, without imploding). With a swimthrough, which means a frigging cave, at the bottom. It was absolutely fantastic, but I was a bit freaked out on the boat beforehand. We started down, and down, and down some more, and all I could concentrate on was following the instructor and clearing my ears. I didn't see anything. Then I was the second one into the cave, behind the instructor, which was filled with these little balls of schooling minnows, which you just had to swim right through, and reaching coral arms and colors and who knows whatall nasties in the nooks and crannies. I just followed the fins in front of me and tried to look unappetizing, and then, after a left turn, there was the light at the end of the tunnel. Closer and closer until wheeee, out into the dim light of the wicked deep. I could tell I was starting to get 'narcked' a bit (nitrogen narcosis, a diver's high that comes from having nitrogen forced into solution in your blood and brain, and that makes you feel loopy and, well, really good). My bubbles, because of the pressure or the narcosis, sounded like breaking glass, but pleasant. Actually, they sounded like icicles breaking off and then sliding away down a river of ice, tinkling along above me, defying gravity. Diamonds, maybe, in the sky, with Lucy. Okay, so I was definitely stoned on nitrogen. Then we cruised along, and looked at all the ridiculously brilliant fishes and corals and sponges and crawling unidentified things, and I got comfortable and actually started to notice things. Diving is funny, because you see all these incredible, mind blowing things, at an overwhelming pace, and you just want to grab everyone and show them and they want to do the same thing. But you all have big ol' regulators jammed in your mouth, and masks over your eyes and nose, so everyone has the exact same expression. It's kind of a serious expression, kind of stern, because the muscles are tensed holding the mouthpiece in. So you see some florescent technicolored oompa loompa coral crab, and you're so excited you can't believe it, and you turn to your buddy with wide eyes and point, and he just stares back, a stern expression on his face. Maybe you get a little nod. And what he has seen was you, pointing, and looking very stern and kind of angry, scaring him and the oompa loompa coral crab. And you go along like this for, like, an hour, trying to remember everything so that you can gibber about it back on the surface, and then you get back up, and everyone takes off their masks and you can see their faces again and everyone says "How was it?" and everyone just answers "Oh, it was great." And that's pretty much it, and all the specifics are forgotten or not talked about, and just kind of remain part of the allure and mistique of the deep, waiting until next time.
Mariam is doing the open water course, and I'm doing the advanced course, and hopefully she'll like it and we'll do a few dives together at the end. She's got a great instructor and it's a great outfit, so it should be fun. And the island is cute, our bedroom is more sauna than bedroom, but the food is good and the locals speak spanish and that funky english of the islands, and there are great views and cays and blue waters all around.