Swim

"There's a time when a man needs to fight, and a time when he needs to accept that his destiny is lost... the ship has sailed and only a fool would continue. Truth is... I've always been a fool. "


Ahhh the refreshing view of a white space where my only job is to type. I have missed you readers. Truth be told nothing insanely significant has happened in your absence, sometimes I just like to tell you things I think.The quote I started with today is from the Tim Burton film Big Fish. If you haven't seen it, again I highly suggest it. It's a framework story about a boy getting to know his father while on his death bed. That's about all I can tell you. 
This quote really stuck with me today. I was writing my final portfolio paper for poetry today and I used a line that I use a lot in my little pep-talks to myself. If you don't jump, you'll never find out if you can fly. This quote really ties into this thought for me.


Sometimes you have to take risks. You've got to risk it to get the biscuit. In life, thougth it may be scary, you have to risk some things. I would like to boldly go where no man has gone before but I'm not going to get there by sitting here in the basement sulking about how anticlimactic my life is. Get out there. Do.


I've been struggling to get my thoughts cohesively down on paper lately so pardon my rambles. I would like to share a poem with you that I submitted along with my paper in my final portfolio. It's entitled Slip.

Slip 

I run as fast as I can. I feel the wind in my hair encouraging me to run and the blades of grass tickling my little pink toes, giving me traction.                        
I’m the fastest kid alive.                                               

I see the perfect wet runway laid out in front of me like a wrinkled yellow brick road waiting to take me to Oz. The wonderful Land of Oz.

It’s almost time for this purposeful crash landing.

Water drips down my face as I run my fingers through my hair getting them caught up in the tangles of summer. The sun is setting and my sunburned cheeks scream for more moisture. They thirst for the splash.

I fling myself into the air pretending to be my own human version of Tekken. Grandma and Grandpa watch from the porch as I twist and turn. I never was any good with combos. I may never come down.

Seconds later I flop on my belly. Hard and fast I slide down the Big Bird tarp. A constant strip of yellow beckoning for my skin. Summertime fun in a box all folded up nice. You never can fold it right again.

A human pancake cooking in the sun. I slide.

I slide down this hill splashing all of my onlookers. I leave the next champion in my wake as I get closer and closer to the end. Slipping off of it’s edges as I squirm down this wet runway. They clap and jump on grasshopper legs waiting for their turn to shine. Shine in the glistening reflection of the sun on their backs and the colorful swimsuits that Mom got last summer on sale.

My elbows and knees fly in every direction as I squeeze my eyes closed and hold my breath tight.

SPLASH!

I’m a giggling torpedo, a speeding bullet of waves. A little girl that’s nothing but happy. So close to my target. Inches away I feel the cool of that giant, refreshing pool of water radiating towards me.

I crash land in a giant pool. My face full of cold spring water.

Slide.

This poem was hard for me to finish. I struggled with it and tried to make it right in so many ways and this was my final product. I know it's hard to compare poetry adequately to life but I had to do something I was afraid of in order to get the good out of this poem. I had to write it in prose form which is a big no no for me but the point is it worked.

The point of my blog today is that life is worth it. It's worth jumping in feet first for and swimming until you can't swim any longer. It's worth fighting for and struggling because eventually you will get to the surface again and you'll forget about the struggle you've been having all along.

Perk up, kiss the boy, and show the world that you are anything but ordinary. You can do whatever you put your mind to because you, as a person, matter. You are significant, important and beautiful. LIfe will take everything from you but you have to force it to give you back even more. Keep fighting and keep showing everyone you're a fool, if that's what it takes. Sometimes it's worth the slip.