Potato Salad

“I REALLY don’t like potato salad.”  I interjected into the conversation.

“You don’t?  Oh, but you should try the potato salad from Brent’s,” Jeff shared.  “You’d like Brent’s.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes.  “You see, that’s the thing.  EVERYONE always says ‘you should try THIS potato salad.  You’d like THIS potato salad.  I never do.  I just really don’t like potato salad.”

The same thing goes with snorkeling.  I tried snorkeling in Hawaii.  I hated it and there are a myriad of reasons.  I don’t like the way the mask feels.  I really don’t like breathing through my mouth through a tube.  I REALLY don’t like when water gets in that tube, or up my nose because I didn’t breathe right.  And more than anything, I really don’t like contemplating the existence of things like jellyfish, sea urchins, sea anemones, or water snakes.  I REALLY don’t like water snakes.  And I don’t like the idea that if I want to put my feet down underneath me to get my bearings, I can’t because of any of the things I mentioned before.

Coral makes a popping sound.  Did you know that?  When I was a kid swimming in Lake Mead, I’d hear something similar, but I believe it was motor boats in the distance.  But I attributed it to water snakes that conveniently any time soon would come out of any of the numerous holes down on the lake bottom that occasionally would release air bubbles.  When I hear coral, I remember that.  So I find myself avoiding coral, no matter how cool it might look…I don’t want to be where it is too shallow, so when I snorkel, I actually avoid the places where I might see something good, which is the whole point of snorkeling.

I do admit, it would be kind of peaceful if I didn’t constantly feel like I was partially suffocating in my mask that is sticking to my face and (for good reason) blocking my nose from breathing and consciously reminding myself to breathe through the tube….unless of course water gets in my mask and I happen to breathe it in or get some in my tube.  There are ten second increments where I can think “this is almost cool.”

But I probably will keep going out, at least while we are here in Madang…because the truth is, somewhere along the line, I learned to REALLY like potato salad (but not really Brent's potato salad).