Shark FREAK!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!" or is it?

I love love love Shark Week - always have! But the problem is that Shark Week always falls a couple of weeks prior to my yearly vacation at the beach. But I can't help it! I am fascinated by sharks (mainly great whites) and continually freak myself out prior to my beach time!

My sister and I were always water babies....once we got in the water there was no gettin' us out. We spent every summer at Cape Cod and every winter in Florida playing in the water without a care in the world. But the I clearly remember when that all changed..."Jaws" came out in the theaters. I was dying to go see it. We were on vacation in Cape Cod and my mom refused to take me. One rainy day, we did go to the movies and I tried to sneak a peek into the theater where Jaws was playing but to no avail.

When I was finally old enough to see it - I remember being completely and utterly terrified! The scene in the beginning has to be the #1 horrifying scene of a movie EVER! Chrissy getting tugged and pulled and eaten from below! I can never see a dingy without thinking about that scene. It has to be my worst nightmare ever! Yet I love the movie! To this day it is my all-time favorite movie. BUT (and that's a big but) it has affected my experience at the beach. I am scared of the water - especially dark murky water. I do the "mom-dip" now...which is get in the water (not too deep) and dunk in enough to get wet and feel refreshed...always scanning the water for dark objects swimming below or giant fins cutting the surface.

My fear gets even more irrational...when I am swimming in pools, I still fear the deep water. I know - right? I did say irrational. Maybe it was too many James Bond movies - there was always that secret door where either you got dumped into a pool of hungry sharks (or sharks with lazers on their heads) or a giant shark would come swimming in to the pool to join you.

I have vivid memories of swimming with my sister at a friend's pool. We were tossing around a little rubber shark when all of a sudden it fell down to the very bottom of the deep end and landed (jaws up) on the drain of the pool. Wigged out - I wouldn't swim over it...just around it...ha ha! Yes, I did say irrational folks! Another time in Boston, my uncle took us out on his boat. He anchored the boat right off of the shoreline and we swam in for snacks on the beach. But when it came time to get back on the boat - we had to swim back to the boat! My sister got in first and I followed her back to the boat. As we got into deeper and deeper water, I remember starting to panic a bit about what might be lurking below. I swam faster and faster - nearly swimming OVER my sister to get back onto safe ground. I am yelling at my sister "Swim faster!". Seriously? This is not normal.

I did feel that I took a big step towards conquering my fears while vacationing in Hawaii. There we were at Waikiki Beach in all its glory and my hubby is begging me to take surf lessons with him. I remembering sitting on the beach contemplating whether or not I could do this. I really wanted to try surfing but why did it have to be in water - ha ha. After weighing the pros and cons, I mustered up the courage and decided that at least with the crystal clear waters of Hawaii I would at least be able to spot a shark coming up on me before getting attacked (see how I rationalized the whole thing?). I got in the water and started "surfing"....well, attempting to surf. It was way harder than I thought. I spent most of my time getting tossed off of my board and churned around like a rag doll along the sandy bottom of the ocean. My entire body hurt. I kept trying to stay close to my husband but he kept going out further and further. "Come on out -this is where the waves are big and perfect to ride!". I looked at him out there (all by himslef) and thought HELL NO...this is as far as this girl goes! After hours and hours of attemtping to stay on board for more than a split second, we got out to take a break. I was feeling defeated but overjoyed for having conquered my fear - at least for that one day! My husband continues to surf anytime we are near water and I just stay safely on the beach scouring the water for a giant fin coming up behind him :)

Now I know the chances of getting attacked by a shark are slim-to-none but...you won't see me wearing any bold stripped bathing suits or entering the water with a cut that is bleeding or splashing around oddly like an injured fish or on a raft/surfboard looking like a seal...nope not me!

In closing.... one of my favorite lines from my favorite movie:

"...Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces."

Quint