Of Crashing Waves And Diving In

Brown Eyed Girl is no longer a girl. She’s a newly minted teenager who will soon be taller me — and that freaks me out a little. 

But she is still my Brown Eyed Girl. My sweet, kind, funny, and smart friend who I am lucky to have.  

And like me, she notices the small details and is a lover of books and the ocean.

When I arrived at the beach, Brown Eyed Girl wasn’t happy because 13 is tough  — and I’ll leave it at that. 

A half hour later I asked her if she wanted to take a walk - and that’s what we did. 

We walked and talked for a good twenty minutes — until we both decided it was time to go for a swim. 

As we walked in the the ocean I told her: My summer doesn’t officially kick-off until I go in the ocean with you. 

 And those words made her smile. And then, like she always does, she dove right in — and I did not. 

As always, I let the waves crash over me, shuddering at every wave that I walked towards and then through. 

“Dive in and you’ll be fine,” she said laughing, And the fact that she always has to tell me to "dive in" and the fact that she was laughing made me happy.

Me: Kid, how long have we been doing this? You know it takes me a while, but once I get my head wet, you can’t get me out!”

Brown Eyed Girl: I know, I know, Kel! Hey, I’m glad you don’t have to take off your pump anymore. That pod makes things easier because now I don’t have to wait for you to disconnect — and that makes me worry less.

Me: It does! And how many times do I have to tell you — you don’t have to worry about me. 

I’m good. 

Brown Eyed Girl: I know… I just... do. I worry about all the people I love. 

Me: I know. Me too. 

And than I yelled “dive under, NOW” and together we dove under a huge wave that was barreling towards us - and we metaphorically washed all our troubles away. 

And just like that, my summer officially started. 

We laughed, swam and talked — I was updated to the fact that she "really likes Carrie Underwood," and we both discovered that “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn,” is one of our favorite books! 

And then we got down to the business of serious body surfing - shredding the waves until we owned them. 

45 minute later, exhausted and out of breath, we left our beloved Atlantic ocean, and descended on the beach and back to our chairs - where we  dried off and sat down. 

I grabbed my pod’s PDM/meter out of my cooler and checked my blood sugar. 110. 

Brown Eyed Girl looked over my shoulder and asked: Is that  OK?
Me: Yep - it’s OK. Everything’s OK. 

via Diabetesaliciousness