It's been about a week since I did my last daily task for This Book Will Change Your Life and I'm thinking that this next week will be pretty interesting as I try to double-up on tasks in order for me to be back on schedule.
Saturday was the Polar Bear Plunge, an event sponsored by the Maryland State Police, my old friends, to benefit the Maryland Special Olympics. The final tally isn't in, but it was announced at 3pm on Saturday that they had raised approximately 11 million dollars. Not a bad chunk of change.
When I rode the bus into Sandy Point State Park there was ice slush accumulating on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Earlier that morning, snow flurries had been blowing in from the side. The water was somewhere in the thirties, the mid to low thirties by the feel of it. I met up with my rugby mates, and for the next two hours there was hilarity in the parking lot as we built courage for The Plunge.
We went down to the beach when it was our hour to plunge. A guy in a red cod piece ran in front of the crowd, a la Braveheart, psyching everyone up. The count down began and after we yelled "ONE!" everyone was making a mad dash for the frigid water. As soon as my delicates hit I achieved something I didn't think was biologically possible--I was reduced to two raisins and a second belly button. There might have even been the beginning of a nub of a tail.
If was chaos, and it had been far too long since I had participated in some good chaos. Some celebrated The Plunge with bourbon and cheap brandy; I chose to celebrate with a good cigar and my love by my side. To misquote Kafka, it's what I needed to break up the frozen lake inside of me.
1 comment:
Awesome, we'll have to go together someday
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