Clean Sheets

This morning I changed the sheets because it's laundry day. I can't wait for bedtime tonight because there's nothing like climbing into a bed with clean sheets on it. Mmmm. You know, I'm going to be a little sorry when the Census Bureau calls Durwood to offer him a job. He's going to take it because he's bored out of his socks, but then I'm going to lose my cook, dishwasher and laundry man. I don't feel guilty that he's doing all those chores, I did them all the years he traveled for work and it's kind of luxurious not to have to do them. I know for a fact that I wouldn't have lost 43# in the last (let's see, counting...) eight months if he hadn't been planning the meals, going to the grocery, and cooking. I'd have given up long ago, but he's still enthusiastic and keeping me on the straight-ish and narrow-ish. (I say it like that because I cheat a little but I decided when I started that I'd be happy with slower weight loss so I'd be able to eat a few little goodies now and then. A 70-calorie tablespoon of mini chocolate chips stirred into my sugar-free nighttime pudding is a good example. Makes all the difference in the world. Naturally I'd like to wake up tomorrow skinny and fit but that ain't gonna happen so I'm happy with what I got.) Anyway, we've got clean sheets and towels today. That's really all I wanted to say. On to the writing!

February 3--Somosomo Bay, Figi. The shallow water was almost hot as she waded off the white sand beach. She was drenched in sweat in her thin black wetsuit and the weight of her tank made the shoulders of her buoyancy vest cut into her. Marco had offered to carry her gear into the water but Abby heard her dad's voice in her head, "you want to be a diver, you carry your own gear," and so she always had. Marco teased her about being stubborn but she had seen too many women, girly girls really, in dive shops and on dive boats who simpered and preened and let some dive boat Lothario set up her gear for her. Abby knew that she wouldn't trust that someone else had done it right so she always refused help. Stubborn, yes, but she had never had a gear problem. It was a long wade out to waist-deep water where they paused to slip into their fins and get their masks settled on their faces before sweeping their right hands down and back to catch their regulators, purge out the water, and take the first breath of the dive. Abby slid her fin-clad feet behind her and fell slowly forward and under the water. She was so overheated that the water, while nearly bath warm, gave her a chill as it engulfed her. She and Marco adjusted their gear and fine-tuned their buoyancy before setting off toward the drop off where the water turned dark blue and large gray shapes patrolled.

Yay, sharks! I love seeing sharks but it took a while; when we first started diving in the ocean I was dead scared to see one, even a little ol' toothless nurse shark. I learned fairly quickly that they really aren't interested in a non-injured human. They roll their flat black eye to look at you and swim on by to find other, better tasting creatures to chomp on. They are graceful and beautiful to see. The thing that amazed me the most is that the little reef fish (what sharks normally eat) don't scurry to hide when sharks swim by. They go about their business looking for their own food and the one time we did see a gray reef shark attack and eat something small, all the little fish darted right over there to see if they could pick up scraps. That amazed me. I wanted to follow that eating shark to see what else he'd eat but our divemaster dragged us in the opposite direction. Spoilsport. Okay, enough with the natural history lesson, I have to get an activity ready for writer's tonight, it's my turn to be leader. Have a good day.
--Barbara