stuff falling into the water

I was a cub scout for a very short period of time when I was very young (cub scout age, whatever that is). I don't recall a single thing about it other than getting the first medal. Eagle medal? Cub medal? I have no idea. It was the the first medal a scout could get, and yes I was pretty proud of it.

One day my family went to the zoo. A rare occasion, to be sure. There's a big body of water that kind of skirts one side of the zoo with a skimpy barricade to keep people from falling in. I recall bending over to look at something...and my medal falling into the water. I'd had it in my front pocket. It was lost, there was no way I would ever get it back. Which was a huge disappointment. I didn't stay in the cubs for very long after that.

Speaking of things falling into the water...for a few years when Gregg Dobbs and I were pretty good friends I would accompany him to an annual barbecue his family hosted in their hometown of Cordell. We would bring a drummer along and play music for hours after the food was served. Sometimes we'd go to the lake to fish and to let Gregg water ski. I tried several times to learn how to water ski but had no luck. I just can't get up out of the water, the pull of the handle is too much. The first time I tried to water ski, at Fort Cobb on a trip with Steve Duncan, I got my thumb caught in the corner of the handle and ripped off the nail.

So anyway, we're at the lake, having a pretty good time. There's a small dock there that people were diving from. Like a fool I dived a couple of times with my glasses on. Figured it would be fine since they were staying on pretty well...until the time when they didn't stay on. Yep, lost them to the bottom of probably 15 feet of water. They were the only pair I had and I was practically blind without them. The rest of the trip was ruined. Did I say I was a fool for diving with them on??? This really, REALLY got me down...

But then there were a couple of scuba divers who were doing some underwater exploration...we told them what had happened to my glasses and they said they'd go down and see if they could find them. I was very skeptical. Not that I didn't have confidence in them, that they couldn't do it. But the water was very, very muddy and it had to have been next to impossible to see anything small as my glasses.

They went down. Came back up. Went down again. Came back up again. Then, one of the times they came up they had my glasses in hand!!! I could not believe it. They saved the whole trip and I don't think I even got their names. My memory these days, obviously is not up to recalling the finer details of the incident, but the main thing is that I'll not soon forget those divers who did me such a huge favor.

Sigur Rós played Fljótavík

Sigur Rós played Fljótavík
A reverent calm
Between bookends of heaven's thunder
We were, everyone of us
Hypnotized, given over to a beauty
So consuming
Like water to drown in

I don't know how long into the song
But a thought of you broke into my heart
Experimenting with chords
Trying to hit the high notes
Failing, even so all the more endearing
Those notes were really high
And you tried

I wanted to give you something good, pure
Something to remember me by
To take the edge off the bitter memories
I blame on depression
Memories nonetheless, ones that loom large
Proven by miles and miles and miles
Between

So I wanted to give you something good, real
To serve as a bridge to one day cross
Above a dry river bed
That should have been teeming with water

As Jonsi hit the really high falsetto notes
I felt something like a bolt of lightning strike through my very being
He hit them perfectly
But that's not what I heard
That's when I felt that old familiar bittersweet feeling
In the pit of my stomach
And had to fight to keep my mouth from twisting
I finally surrendered to the feeling that words will never describe
But I kept the tears from dripping down my eyes
Barely

And soon enough I was glad the song was over
Even while wishing it would never end

I sat back in my seat
I looked around to see if anyone noticed the anguish in my face
I had to confess to a strong sense of paranoia
Because really, who would take their eyes off of the stage
When Sigur Rós plays Fljótavík?

all the wild horses...