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Saturday, March 23, 2013

"Swim"

There are no jellyfish in Lake Erie.  The only jellyfish I’ve seen have been on tv or scattered around a Florida beach like a bunch of used plastic grocery bags.  I think that’s for the best because I hear jellyfish can sting and even kill you.  I can’t see the point of swimming with things that can kill you, so maybe it’s best that I live in Ohio.

So why a jellyfish?  Maybe because my snowbird friend was chuckling over the snow in Ohio when he was going to take a 5 mile walk on the beach in the Florida sunshine.  Sometimes I have to remind myself why I like Ohio.  I also had a lot of dull work to do and was trying to anticipate the IF word on Thursday night so I could post something.  I got an image in my mind of long vertical lines and a jellyfish happened, so jellyfish it is.

There are plenty of things I could write about with “swim” as the word for the week.  I grew up surrounded by water and can swim like a fish.  Well, I used to swim like a fish, but now maybe I swim like a basking turtle?  Maybe that’s why I harken back to childhood thoughts when I think about things to blog about.

Back then I had an extra special secret place downstream.  There was a deep, warm well of water in the river with a good sunning rock, and because nobody but me ever went there, I was free to drop my clothes on the shore and swim neckid.  One time I went there and saw that there were maybe a million or two baby water snakes squiggling around the entire edge of my rock.

I was torn.  Should I do something in the woods instead or plow through baby snakes?  I opted for snakes.  They didn’t scatter as I swam through them.  They kept squiggling on the perimeter and saw me as an extension of the boulder.  What sounds like somebody’s nightmare was an exquisite experience.  I was incredibly alive in that moment, with an overload of excited nerve endings.  I gently floated alongside snakes and pretended to be one of them.

I feel like I should delete this remembrance because I imagine people far away going “Ew yuck!” and Mom scolding me that I shouldn’t admit to skinny dipping or that snakes have some sort of scary diseases.  I get torn between repeating what I heard about women putting a snake inside themselves as a self-pleasing technique and stopping my typing fingers from repeating stuff I’m not “supposed to” repeat because we’re all supposed to be in lock step together dressed in beige.

One of the fun things for me about blogging is that I don’t have a goal when I start typing.  I just look at the word for the week and free associate.  It surprises me what comes out, especially when I start writing about swimming naked with snakes.  I bet other people have lots of things that they could free associate about too that probably falls into the “we never talk about that” kind of category.  How many of our most interesting experiences get squashed into silence?

Draw and write what you feel like drawing and writing.  Test your intuition.  Swim with snakes!

18 comments:

  1. Lots of jellyfish on the east coast but not as pretty as yours. They come in with the tide mostly and although I've never been stung, an older relative showed me where she was stung once, years earlier and there was still a mark. Mostly everyone jumped out of the water when they came in. I'm not sure whether I'd prefer swimming nekkid with snakes. Porpoises I'd be into...

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  2. I'd like to swim with porpoises too. Not so sure that naked needs to figure into that though :)

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    1. You're right. I'd scare them away. Full wetsuit for me... lol

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  3. Here on the east coast, I've seen my share of jellyfish. My daughter was stung a couple years ago. There were welts on her leg the shape of the tentacles. It was slightly heebie jeebieish. The life guard put vinegar on it, and the rest of us got back in the ocean. :)

    Kinda like you and those snakes. :)

    Gotta respond to the women making out with the snakes. That's a new one - never heard that one before. LOL

    Your jellyfish would win first place in a beauty contest!

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  4. Intuition is king. And I am glad you don't keep yourself within the boundaries of what we are suppose to do. How boring wouldn't that be. I might not have chosen to swim with snakes myself (but I have swum with alligators only few yards away - quite intense that, too...), but I think it's great you allowed to experience it. For one who doesn't have any jellyfish close by, you have made a stunningly beautiful illustration. Maybe because you can float around like one?

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  5. Beautiful jellyfish! They are mesmerizing to watch, I've only seen them at the big Aquarium. My nephew got stung once. I understand urine is an effective remedy, so don't leave home without it if you go swimming among the jellyfish!
    I think even my young self would've opted to not swim with the baby snakes, but your description of the experience is tempting. Not so with the other snake experience you didn't really mention since we're all in our beige :)

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  6. I don't think I'm going to have that other snake experience either :) My fear of jellyfish has been reinforced by these poor children getting welts from them. Makes snakes seem downright cuddly. Thanks for the comments!

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  7. I can't beat snakes. But when I snorkeled this winter I was surrounded by dozens of tiny jelly fish. I was freaked out until I discovered they were harmless. That variety anyway. Snakes! Yikes!

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  8. Funnily enough Linda give me a jelly fish any day...there is only one thing which gives me the heebies and that is snakes....your experience on the rock would be the stuff of nightmares for me. You can probably tell that there is no chance of a snakes featuring in my bottom drawer..LOL ;0)Love the illustration, a very beautiful jelly fish x

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  9. I've been stung by a jellyfish before. Not a good time. But yours is quite beautiful! I love the color palette!!

    Hmmm....baby snakes I might be ok with, but this post makes me think back to MY childhood, & how one morning, a friend & I were cutting through the woods on the way to school, as we usually did, & faced an unexpected obstacle. We had to cross a little brook by stepping on rocks, & on this particular morning, they were occupied by big black snakes basking in the sun. We were late to school that day....

    As far as using snakes as a self-pleasing technique, well THAT'S one I hadn't heard of...and I'm more than 3/4 through Fifty Shades of Grey..... ;)

    As always, great post, Linda!

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  10. My ever-helpful friend, who told me about the snake pleasing technique, sent me a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophidiophilia. I guess you're supposed to sew the snake's mouth shut first, but I'm not recommending any of this!

    I think I'd be late for school too Mit. Keep in mind my snake experience was with babies.

    Thanks for the comments everybody!

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    1. Well that was MY education for the day! :)

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  11. I love reading your blog posts Linda, not only do we get a great illustration you always have an amazing personal anecdote.

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  12. I'm so happy to further someone's education. LOL Thanks for the comments!

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  13. Glad to admire your jellyfish at arm's length, though they are graceful and lovely. I'll steer way clear from those snakes! :o)

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  14. Luscious colors! I, too, love to swim.

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  15. Thanks! I don't think I'll be swimming with any more snakes :)

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