Highs and Lows

The big bold letters of the word “Parasailing” on the side of the boat seemed to be teasing me. Come on Sammi! You know you want to come on this boat. You know you want to slide like a snake into the harness, get attached to a parachute, and be thrusted into the air with a thin rope as your only connection to the boat and the rest of the world. You know that you want to be as high as the clouds, with nothing but water below you and pray that the thin line doesn’t snap like a twig. You know you want to come parasailing! Man, did I want too, but I was so scared. I was about to tell my cousin, Shaun, that I no longer wanted to go parasailing, but flashbacks of the day before flickered into my mind. A movie in which I starred played before my eyes.
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“Sam!” I turned around to see Shaun swimming as fast as a fish towards me. We were out pretty far in the ocean off of Cape May, New Jersey with a huge monster of a wave rushing towards us, his white claws ready to pounce and eat us for lunch. After what seemed like forever, Shaun finally reached me. I clung onto him like a scared little kid clutching to their mommy and Shaun wrapped his huge arms bulging with muscles like a blanket tight around me.

The monster had crashed on our heads and together we were pushed down into life under the sea. I was on the verge of dying, but somehow I’ve never felt more alive. It seemed like all my senses were just beginning to kick in. My eyes burnt from opening them while being stuck under the heavy burden of the sea. I tasted the wet-dryness of the salt water as it leaked into my mouth. I tried to kick and swim, but the “monstery” wave was too strong and fierce for me to face alone.

Once I realized that I wouldn’t be able to free myself from the clutches of this huge wave, horrible thoughts flooded my mind. If I die I’m never going to be able to say good-bye to my family. I’m never going to be able to travel. I’m never going to…… My thoughts were quickly interrupted as Shaun somehow managed to beat the monster and get us to the surface of the ocean. I’ve never been happier to be blinded by sunlight. I can finally breathe! Ahhhh. Air! I thought. I would have said those words out loud, but I was too busy coughing up gallons of icky saltwater.

After my coughing fit was over, the rest of the world seemed silent. Shaun and I floated in the ocean, bobbing up and down with each swell, speechless. I swear it was like our mouths were glued shut. We were both too numb and shocked to say anything. I knew that while we were struggling with death, Shaun had been succumbed to the same horrifying thoughts that I had. After the numbness and shock wore off, the adrenaline and nervousness kicked in. We started swimming as fast as we possibly could. It was like our legs turned into propellers, our arms into steering wheels, and with that we hurried and got our boat-like bodies out of that death trap of an ocean.
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“Sam, you coming?” Shaun’s voice made the movie in my mind go on pause and shook me back to reality.

“Yeah, I’m coming,” I said as I proudly stepped onto the boat. This was one of the things I thought I would have never been able to do while I was drowning, but now I had a chance to do it. Before I knew it, Shaun and I were 300 feet in the air parasailing! When I looked down below I saw the endless ocean, the “fun sized” people who didn’t have the privilege to feel like they were flying, the group of sea gulls that formed BELOW our feet, and I knew I had made the right choice. I made a vow to myself to never let fear keep me from living. Almost like he read my mind, Shaun said that we should make another pact. He said, “The next time we are attached to a parachute, it is going to be when we go skydiving. That way when it is our time to go we won’t leave our lives totally unfinished.”


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