Friendship!

I'm a Natator!

Have you ever spent time just floating? Using as little effort as possible to stay on top of the water with out sinking? If you are one of the unlucky ones that plummet like a rock, that has no buoyancy don't read any further. No! I'm kidding, keep reading.

Anyone that spends a lot of time in the water be it fresh or salt eventually arrives at a place of contentment and connection with everything. Not everyone can do it but those that can enjoy a oneness with the aquatic environment that is every bit as valuable as that gained from a session of quiet meditation or a trip to temple,church or the mosque. Even those that use aids to keep them afloat experience that same feeling of oneness at times.

I'm not suggesting that only those with a connection to water are somehow blessed with an extra ability. Water folks connect through water while people that aren't comfortable in water but that love the mountains or deserts connect through the earth. For others it is the connection they get through their religious affiliations. It is those that can connect where ever they are and in whatever medium they are experiencing, here and now, in the present, that are truly blessed.

Today's topic is not really about floating on top of the water or hiking in the mountains or camping in the desert, or going to temple, church or the mosque, it is about friendship. It is about connection, it is about how we hold those people who have impacted our lives in some manner close to our hearts whether we see them or not, whether we talk to them or not, whether we are interacting with them now or whether we will interact with them in the future.

A few days ago a friend who used to live here came back to visit for a week. This person is a water-baby and has made a name for herself internationally.....but to us...she is just our friend, she fit in to island life and bonded with us. She is someone we enjoy swimming with, someone we love talking to, someone we have fun showing things to, someone we love to entertain when she comes to visit, and someone we exchange funny haiku's with over the distance that separates us.

But she is not alone, she is just one of many who have left the island for a different life and for reasons so varied i can't go into them here. But they all share one thing in common, they became our friends and we never forget them. We love having them come to visit. We are proud of our homes and get great pleasure from their enjoyment.

This morning our friend came to swim with us but it wasn't like the usual work out swim it was more like doing intervals then stopping because " OH MY GOSH did you seeeeee that huge turtle?" " i think he gets the prize for the longest tail ever," said one swimmer. "No, no, no that last one was bigger," says someone else. Or, "Hey, did i tell you about bla, bla," which moves into all sorts of conversational tangents, books, politics, religion while we are out there floating over the abyss.......saving the world....... while not thinking about the fact that we are in shark territory and they have been a bit too aggressive of late and we should be wary..... when someone takes our mind off the shark and says," What do you think of those waves?" I'm having trouble swimming, my stroke sucks in these, i'm getting airborne off the swells, how about you? Or, over here, over here look at this school of squid....are they cuttlefish?

i had to look this one up because i had this feeling i had been wrong with my answer and although they are from the same class.... cephalopod..... its a different order they belong to. But this was a minor thing because this morning we could care less about time or even reality........our friend was visiting........and we were all enjoying her excitement at just being here. It always amazes me the ease at which one falls right back into the same way of communicating, almost as if they never left.

There are forces all around us drawing some together and repelling others. Repulsion happens when something is placed between the two attracting forces, figure out what that is and how to remove that something and most friendships can be repaired. i believe that we never loose our connections even when they have been adverse because that initial joy just doesn't go away. Those people pop into our heads, throughout our lives, at the oddest moments and re-acquaint us with the things we liked about them, even over the anger.

It is the totality of intra molecular forces, those of atoms, molecules and their surfaces that continues to draw us together, especially over vast distances. We are all composed of the same stuff and maybe it is the water, maybe it is the earth, for some it may be that dedication to doing something regularly, whatever it is we all experience connection in our own special ways, cherish it. When that memory of a friend pops in, savor it, or contact them cause life is short and you may have missed out on something really wonderful.