I love swimming in the ocean, and I love snorkeling.


Tell me about your swimming experiences.


1. Where did you learn to swim? When? Who was your teacher?

2. Did you ever skinny dip? Care to share about it?

3. What was your most outrageous bathing suit? (and define outrageous any way you like)

4. Do you swim now? How often? Pool, lake, ocean or other? (and please explain other)

5. Are you a gradual immerser or a jump in and take it kind of person?

6. Have you ever been snorkeling or scuba diving?

A few months ago I went on an airplane ride with a former astronaut who goes to my church. He has been on two space walks and was on the shuttles, Endeavour, Atlantis, and Discovery.

The plane was a two seat biplane with an open cockpit. It was such an awesome experience. I was strapped in with a five point harness, and I wore a headset to protect my hearing and so that I could talk to the pilot. The pilot sits in the back sit, so I was in the front.

Flying through the air was amazing, the ride was so smooth. When you are on the ground you notice the roads and the houses and buildings, but the aerial view was so different. I saw mostly trees and lakes, it was so beautiful. Next I would like to ride in a helicopter or a hot air balloon.

I have ridden on/in:

A plane
A train
A bicycle
A moped
A motorcycle
A snowmobile
A ferry
A cruise ship
A canoe
A rowboat
A fishing boat

Have many of these have you ridden?
Additions:
car
truck
bus
taxi
police cruiser
ambulance
electric scooter
limo

"This is the Earth, healed again, growing green and blue. I want you to remember this exactly as it is, and then go and tell the people that if enough of us hold this image in their minds, we can heal the Earth and make it like it was a long time ago."

Last year I was placed on the waiting list for a new kidney. Over 92,000 people are currently on the list. Each day, about 74 people receive organ transplants. However, 18 people die each day waiting for transplants that can’t take place because of the shortage of donated organs. For more information go to http://www.organdonor.gov/

A year ago today, I got a call from the transplant center about a possible donor. I went into the hospital at midnight for tests, they were supposed to have the kidney at 4 am. It turned out that they didn't get the kidney until 4 pm. So I spent the whole night and next day in the hospital waiting. I could not eat or drink, missed a dialysis treatment and a dosage of medication, plus they gave me a laxative which had an explosive effect.

When the kidney came in (it was flown in from somewhere) they did a cross match test where they add my blood to some of the kidney tissue to see if my antibodies would attack the kidney, which it did, so they sent me home. It seems that due to my blood transfusion I have too many antibodies making finding a match very difficult.The hospital stay took quite a toll on my body, when I left I could barely walk.

Meanwhile, my father died as I was being admitted into the hospital. I wanted to go up to NY and go to the funeral when I got out but I let my mom and my husband talk me out of it. They were worried about my health, I was too weak to make the trip.

I had been to NY two weeks prior to this to see my dad in the hospital, we knew that he was dying and I am so glad I was able to go and say goodbye. My dad smoked for 40 years and died of lung cancer one year ago today and I miss him although I am glad that he is no longer suffering.

Maybe I'll get a kidney, or maybe I won't and I am okay with that, I just try to take care of my health and thank God for every precious day that I am here.

The title of this entry is a quote from a friend of mine which inspired me to compare the learning of history to the learning of religion.

When you are taught history in elementary school you are taught the facts and to succeed you most memorize them, For example, Abraham Lincoln was born on Feb.12, and he freed the slaves, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7., and you believe without questioning everything you are told.

When you get to high school you learn that there is more to it than that, that the civil war was fought for many reasons. You learn to look at it from the point of view of both sides, and learn that there are many contributing factors. You learn that the history of WWII is taught differently in Japan than it is in the US, and that you must consider the source and point of view of the author when you read something. There is no simple answer to who was right and who was wrong, and your teachers ask you to be able to present both sides of an issue.

Then, when you get to college, your professors want even more. They want your own opinion about what you have learned. They want you to question everything you read and form your own conclusions.

Now consider the teaching of religion. Most of us are taught the facts of our religion when we are of elementary school age. We are asked to memorize them and to accept them as facts. Whether we are taught from the bible, the Qur’an or whatever, we are expected to believe that is it true.

The problem is that many people never advance to the next school level. They refuse to consider that other points of view may also be valid. In the course on religion, too many people are stuck in elementary school, believing what they have been told, and never questioning. They use the word faith to hide their ignorance. They memorize quotes that they really don’t even understand.

In my opinion it would help if we actually were taught religion in high school, just as we are taught history, presented from different sides.

Personally, I spent quite a few years learning about various religions at the high school level, and I have recently progressed to the college level. I don’t believe or agree with everything that my minister says, I listen and form my own opinions.