Day 78
This scene is a road on your right as you cross the marshes to Tybee Island. It was evening and the road looked wet and the sky was interesting.
Now to my drowning story. My friend Rafe had suggested that we could swim to an uninhabited island (Little Tybee) just off shore from the beach to hunt for shells. At low tide we would just have to swim a narrow channel, then walk/wade the rest of the way.
So the next morning off we went. Rafe, his two daughters, myself and my daughter Suzanna. As we began to swim across the channel everything was fine. I was at the back, making sure no one lagged behind. 10 minutes of swimming, 15 minutes, 20 minutes...still no one had reached the shallow waters. Though I can swim, I hadn't swam this long without resting in quite some time. Breathing hard, I started to think "I don't believe I can make it. I better turn back.". I turned to go back, but it was too late. We had swam more than half way. That's when I started to panic. My heavy breathing picked up and I thought "I can't believe it, I'm going to drown on my vacation. Crap, that's going to ruin an otherwise great trip!".
I rolled on my back to catch my breath, but my panic was full blown by then so that wasn't going to help me. I had to suck it up and start swimming harder than I ever had. I went into full Tarzan mode. I could feel my heart beating like crazy. I keep thinking "please do not cramp up Mikey!". That would be the end, I thought.
Finally I saw Rafe walking out of the water. Relief. Only about 20 yards to swim. As I walked out of the water onto the sand bar, Rafe said "We're not quite there yet. We'll need to swim one more channel. It's about the same width as the one we just cross." That's when I told him of my embarrassing near-drowning episode.
"Why didn't you say something." he said.
My response "I wanted to die with dignity"
It's funny now, not so funny at the time. That was the end of our adventure. The old man of the sea was spent. I rested, and we found a more shallow channel to cross back to the beach.
SOLD
Now to my drowning story. My friend Rafe had suggested that we could swim to an uninhabited island (Little Tybee) just off shore from the beach to hunt for shells. At low tide we would just have to swim a narrow channel, then walk/wade the rest of the way.
So the next morning off we went. Rafe, his two daughters, myself and my daughter Suzanna. As we began to swim across the channel everything was fine. I was at the back, making sure no one lagged behind. 10 minutes of swimming, 15 minutes, 20 minutes...still no one had reached the shallow waters. Though I can swim, I hadn't swam this long without resting in quite some time. Breathing hard, I started to think "I don't believe I can make it. I better turn back.". I turned to go back, but it was too late. We had swam more than half way. That's when I started to panic. My heavy breathing picked up and I thought "I can't believe it, I'm going to drown on my vacation. Crap, that's going to ruin an otherwise great trip!".
I rolled on my back to catch my breath, but my panic was full blown by then so that wasn't going to help me. I had to suck it up and start swimming harder than I ever had. I went into full Tarzan mode. I could feel my heart beating like crazy. I keep thinking "please do not cramp up Mikey!". That would be the end, I thought.
Finally I saw Rafe walking out of the water. Relief. Only about 20 yards to swim. As I walked out of the water onto the sand bar, Rafe said "We're not quite there yet. We'll need to swim one more channel. It's about the same width as the one we just cross." That's when I told him of my embarrassing near-drowning episode.
"Why didn't you say something." he said.
My response "I wanted to die with dignity"
It's funny now, not so funny at the time. That was the end of our adventure. The old man of the sea was spent. I rested, and we found a more shallow channel to cross back to the beach.
SOLD
Evening Rain
6" x 6" Oil on gessoboard
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