The topic I want to address today is near and dear to my heart. Those of you who know me well know that this is something I feel strongly about: (*ahem*) Superpowers.
Everybody's got 'em. Yep, even you. These are the strange and sometimes almost useless things you can do really, really well. If only they paid you for it, you'd have it made, right?
In my world, I too have some superpowers. They are, in no particular order, peeling oranges, making a cleft appear and disappear in my chin (betcha never saw that before, huh?) and riding my bike without using the handlebars (I'm really good at this).
Not to belittle my truly awesome list, but if I had a chance to choose or swap, there are some superpowers I would really like to have. Some of the things on this list are noble (like the ability to always be there for someone who needs a friend) and some are selfish (the ability to dress well). There is one thing on my list, however, which I really, really want, and also recognize is really, really not happening, at least in this life, even with great practice. It is the ability to fly.
Even though I always had a bad case of vertigo, I have dreamed of being able to fly since I was little. The idea of hovering in the sky is to me pretty much the coolest thing ever. I am a vivid dreamer (not just daydreams, but I mean I dream A LOT of nightime-dreams, pretty much every night) and I often have dreams that I'm floating in the sky or running so fast I start leaping, jumping over things, and flying through the air. I wake up feeling like "Ah ha! I finally figured it out! The secret to flying is just moving your body like in my dream!" But alas, air-acrobatics just do not work out with the gravity-factor like they do in my head.
Since moving to Hawaii, though, I think I may have found the key to getting all of my dream-like flying thrills in real life. People, I give you.... (drumroll please) SNORKELING!!!
(note: this is not my picture; I borrowed it from the internet. [but it could be my picture, if I had an underwater camera. I have seen several scenes just like it underwater, in real life, so imagine that it's my picture. k, thanks])
Living in the desert, I forgot how much I love snorkeling. Snorkeling is incredible. You put on a mask and stick your head under water and viola! you are in a completely different world. Heavenly Father is so amazing!!! I already stand ga-ga at mountain vistas and valley views, yet for all that which we see above the earth, there is 5x's more under the water! There are the same mountains and valleys, but added to them are millions of life forms foreign to our land-based world. And the best part?!?!?! It's like flying!!! With snorkeling you get to literally hover, or fly, over the whole new world you are taking in. I LOVE IT! I get to see turtles and eels and colorful coral and lots and lots of Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (the Hawaii State fish). I've seen schools of little and big fish, the burrowing porcupine looking thing, and, as I said before, really big, really cool looking sea turtles that always remind me of "Finding Nemo." I love going at a time of day when I can see the strong shafts of sunlight break through the water, illuminating the world below, sometimes up to thirty feet. This takes my breath away, to see a sight which God, with his all-seeing vision, takes in every day and is aware of 100% of the time, but which my tiny eyes can see only a part of when I seek it out. I love the time I can spend hovering there, listening to the air bubbles in the water and moving softly, dream-like, through the fluid atmosphere, soaking in that treasured world.
After an hour of snorkeling my back is sunburned and my jaw aches from holding the tube in my mouth, but it's all worth it. It's all worth it because I get to fly.
