Preparing for a Much Needed Vacation
It’s been a long time, seven years to be exact, since I had a real vacation. Ever since I started teaching, the time just wasn’t there to take one. Whether I was coaching, conditioning, or taking classes, something always stood in the way. This time things are different, and even if they weren’t nothing is going to stand in the way of this trip. I’m going to see my daughter with a short detour to visit a good friend. This is more than just your basic garden variety vacation. It’s a vacation like it should be with no distractions or schedules to meet, just letting things happen as they may.
I’m leaving in a few days, but I’ve been preparing for weeks now. The physical preparation took a couple days. My things are already packed and ready to load in the van. The details are worked out for taking care of Will and my aquariums. Everything’s ready and in place except in my head. The mental preparation is where I’m battling in my mind. The drive will be a breeze. I’ve made trips this long plenty of times before so it’s not even a thought. I feel like I should have a plan or strategy, but that’s not what I want it to be like. I want it to be relaxing and peaceful while I enjoy every second along the way. I live in a place now where nature has been pushed aside in the name of progress, but I’m venturing to places where nature still abounds, places where I will feel right at home. I’m going to clear my head and just go along for the ride as long as it will last.
I’m extremely excited and thankful for being invited to take this trip. I get to spend valuable time with people in my life whom I love and cherish but distance keeps away. This vacation is also about more than spending time with my daughter and visiting friends, it’s about spending time with myself and being in a better place. I’m long overdue for a cleansing of the heart, mind, and soul. This vacation will afford me that opportunity. We’ll just have to see where it takes me.
Studying Dolphins for a Day
In college, I majored in marine biology and psychology so I could study marine mammal behavior. My dream was to work with dolphins, but the field was filled with people like me so I found myself working with harbor seals instead. Today was one of those rare opportunities to actually do something I’ve always wanted to do. I spent the entire day studying the behavior of bottlenose dolphins in the wild and then assisted with the necropsy of a dead bottlenose dolphin that washed ashore overnight. It was an incredible experience.
The first part of the morning was spent on a boat cruising up and down the coastline searching for pods of bottlenose dolphins to observe. The weather was beautiful and it didn’t take long to find them. There was plenty of activity to observe near a shallow flat just south of Cape Henry Lighthouse. It’s difficult to accurately count how many were in the area because our vision was limited to the surface. If I had to give an estimate it would be in the area of about 30 animals and probably 6 of those were calves. I had the chance to observe a variety of different behaviors in the four hours I was on the water.
Something I found interesting was that I never saw an animal by itself, they were always in groups of two or more and their interactions appeared to be mainly milling and social behaviors. There weren’t any noticeable feeding behaviors and they stayed in the same area swimming around appearing to only be interacting with each other and occasionally the boat. I watched as several animals kept rolling on the surface and swimming back and forth over each other. They seemed curious and would swim beside the boat rolling over on one side as if to get a better look at what I was doing. Something else that I noticed was that the mothers always had their flipper underneath their calf’s belly as they surfaced and the calf always seemed to be on the mother’s left side no matter what direction they were heading. The last thing I observed was on the way back to the marina. Everyone knows how much they enjoy riding the wake of a boat. It was an awesome sight to count as many as nine at a time riding the wake of the boat. They would take turns as some rode at the bow and others rode the wake to either side. It was the perfect final observation to record.
The afternoon was set aside to perform a necropsy on a dead bottlenose dolphin that had washed ashore in the middle of the night. It wasn’t part of the original plans but an opportunity I couldn’t pass on. The carcass had already begun to decompose so the necropsy was mainly to determine the possible cause of death and collect any samples possible for research purposes. It was exciting because I actually got to assist the lead scientist with the entire procedure.
The specimen was a juvenile male that measured 6 feet in length. The only external evidence of the cause of death were net marks around his rostrum which are a pretty good sign that he had been caught in a fishing net and probably drowned. Otherwise, he appeared to have been a healthy animal. The internal examination didn’t show anything out of the ordinary but did provide evidence that he was healthy and feeding right up to his death. Examining his stomach contents backed up the theory that he was caught in a fishing net and drowned. His first stomach was filled with whole and partially digested fish. The presence of whole fish suggests that he had been feeding at the time of his death. The contents of the stomachs were collected for a scientist that’s studying feeding habits of the local population. Several teeth and tissue samples were also collected to help determine the age of the animal and presence of chemicals and pollutants. It was an unnecessary death but not a wasted one.
It was a long day, nine hours to be exact, but in the end it was too short. I have been out of the field an in the classroom for six years and this experience reminded me of how much I miss being out there. I do enjoy teaching, but it was great to be a real scientist again even if it was just for a day.
Babe’s Gift of Divine Intervention
Many years ago I lost two important people in my life, one I was deeply in love with and the other I was anxiously waiting for her arrival into this world. It left a void that could not be filled by anyone else, or should I say any person. Instead, it was filled, or at least hidden, by the love and companionship of one animal. She was God’s answer to my prayers, the one in my physical life that kept me going day after day. She gave my life constant purpose and right up until her last breath on Earth her only concern was for me, but she didn’t stop there.
When Babe left the physical world and took her place beside God in Heaven, her love for me and my unwillingness to let her go sent her on another journey to take care of me like she had countless times before. For days, I was unable to leave the house or face other people and just the thought or mere mention of Babe would send me into an emotional collapse. She was my closest friend and had listened to my innermost feelings and thoughts for many years. She knew the one thing on Earth that could bring me peace again. She knew that even she could never bring me the feeling of wholeness that could only come from having one person in my life. That all changed one day with an email and a phone call. It was only then that I knew then why Babe had to leave my side here in the physical world. It was the only way she could give me what I had longed for all those years, my daughter.
Through Babe’s will and the hand of God, peace was returned to me by the very person I had anxiously waited for the arrival of many year ago, Brittany. Over the months that followed, we took it slow and got to know each other through emails. It gave me something to look forward to each day. We talked about faith, family, friends, music, school, sports, and just plain everyday life. The more I learned about her the more I thanked God for blessing me with her. Many years of countless prayers for her had been answered and she had been watched over and kept safe. She was the perfect daughter in every way, except that we had never actually met each other. Then one day I got an email telling me that she was coming here for vacation and wanted to meet me and spend time together.
What seemed like an eternity of waiting was almost over and as time passed and the meeting drew closer I began to grow nervous, something I’m not used to feeling, but there was always a presence there to calm me. The day came as I sat on the couch with my eyes closed and feeling Babe next to me waiting. When the door bell rang I felt a rush of emotion, and as I opened the door and Brittany came into my life, I could feel Babe leaving. She had brought me this far and given me one last gift and now it was her time to let me go. The time spent with Brittany that week, however brief, made my life. Life had come full circle and I no longer had to anxiously wait for her arrival, she was here, an angel on Earth delivered to me by an angel above. The daughter I have always loved in my heart is now in my life, and while she may never understand how much she meant to me all these years, Babe always did and never forgot.
My life has truly been blessed and I thank God every day for the people around me, especially for my angels, and I know Babe is sitting beside him looking down on me as we both finally share peace. She will always be in my heart and prayers for the greatest gift she ever gave me was Brittany.
Hello World!
Fathom the Unknown is now a reality instead of just an idea tucked away in the back of my mind. This website is a place where I can share my life experiences with the masses. Putting my innermost thoughts and dreams into words that people can interpret and understand. Please remember that what I say is my own opinion and not that of the people around me. Enjoy getting deep inside the unconscious mind!
