Day of the Dolphin

Some Dreams are a long time in coming.  This one was approximately 34 years.  My first memory in life is a startlingly clear recollection of feeding a dolphin at the petting pool in Marineland.  I informed my mom that "he liked me" since he was smiling at me, and thus began a life-long love affair with dolphins-a deep fascination that would persist in my mind and heart independent of the ebb and flow of other interests and obsessions.  The dream was to work with these elegant, soulful creatures, to swim with them and study them and become a part of their world.  They have always been a part of mine.  

Yesterday I touched my dream.  I swam with a dolphin.  It's difficult to describe an experience that transcends the meaning of every word you know.  I had the remarkable fortune of a thunderstorm rolling by just in time to ward off all the hopeful participants of the swim (they would all reschedule for the next day) except myself and another member of the crew.  A 15 minute ferry ride in the rain was trade for having a sleek, graceful, beautiful bottlenosed dolphin all to ourselves.

The odd thing is how very natural it all felt.  Swimming and diving next to this 400 pound creature was not at all frightening or intimidating.  Time seemed to stop when Taino (my new friend) and I would spontaneously dive under the water together, and she always timed her ascent so that she broke the surface of the water just as I did.  Like synchronized swimmers, swimming the pas de deux of the dolphin and the dreamer.  Even when we accidentally crashed into each other underwater, I was entirely as ease.  Her delightful chatter and banter echoed through the water like a staccato symphony.  Every thought, worry, and concern about anything and everything dropped away from me, and I felt completely bathed in a glowing sort of peace as I swam through the warms waters of the Caribbean with the most wondrous and splendid of beings.

The only word that comes close to describing my time with Taino is Sublime.  It's not at all sufficient, but it will have to do.  I wouldn't necessarily say that swimming with Taino has suddenly made me a different person, but it has certainly made me feel differently.  Having such a deep and dear dream realized is no small thing, and my gratitude for this experience is profound.  It was magnificent.  And it was worth the wait.