You guys-- 50 Badass Adventures started two years ago, almost to the day. I can't believe it! It's A Badass Anniversary!!
2 years ago, I launched the website. The website is how I held myself accountable for keeping this project going, and you guys have been absolutely wonderful staying with me during it. I remember how terrified I was posting my #1 post.
2 years later, I've had the unbelievable experience of getting to do 97 adventures in that time with so many badass people. New friends, old friends, family, strangers, strangers who became friends...that's been one of the very best parts of this project.
Man, this blog has changed so much from that time. I got much more wordy since then. Sorry. But kind of not, since my memory is so pissy that it's a good thing I write this stuff down or I'd forget I did any adventures at all!
Remember the second badass adventure when Em and I went swimming with manatees?
When we were in the water with the manatees, our manatee tour guide told us that we should really consider taking another tour with them during scalloping season. We would "be collecting so many scallops that by the time we were done, we'd have a Home Depot organge bucket full" of those sweet little nuggets.
Whaaaaat the what?
I've been wanting to go scalloping ever since.
Guess what -- I finally got the chance to this weekend, and it was not at all like I expected. It was better!
First of all, the boat adventure was a blast, with all the badass gang on board. (Except Jenn....we miss you Jenn!!!).
Jason was at the wheel and we motored out far, far, far into the gulf where the land couldn't be seen and the dolphins were out to play. What a beautiful, sunny day -- but freaking hot. So when we dropped anchor, I couldn't wait to jump in.
It's a weird feeling to be so far from shore and still be in 6" deep water. Right?
The water wasn't overly cool but it was clear and we strapped on our snorkels & masks and got to diving.
I had to retrain myself how to do surface dives. I learned how way back in the day at summer camp when I was taking a lifeguarding course. (Summer camp was THE BEST. Except for the uber inappropriate camp songs that were extremely wrong, wrong, wrong, especially for a church camp, but hey -- we didn't know any better. They were so bad I can't even give details here, but if you want to get the scoop, call my brother. He'll tell ya. I can't because it is THAT inappropriate.)
Surface dives were easy when I was 12. But at 52? Not sure how this was going to go.
One thing I realized is that with my body changes over the years and the extra padding I have earned, I have become remarkably buoyant. This buoyancy was very helpful when the current kept pulling us quickly away from the boat and we spent a lot of time treading water. But not so great when I needed to sink to the sea floor. I was a bit concerned that my legs would be waving frantically above the water while my adipose tissue acted like an inflatable tube keeping me from submerging. Fear of potential embarrassment almost held me back. Almost. But hey -- guess what? Surface dives were just as easy as they were back at good old Camp Calumet. By permanently attached inner tube didn't keep me from hitting fixing deep. Oh yeah!!
So I spent some time on the sea floor looking around for treasures. My lung capacity gave me enough time to dive down, look around for a few seconds, then zip back to the surface. And there wasn't a whole lot to see. But we stuck to it, and slowly, the shadows on the floor became noticable as fish, as crabs, and as shells. I tried to catch a sweet little crab-boy but he scurried away. I wasn't able to catch the beautiful black and white fish that kept swimming around us in curiosity. I did catch a bottle cap, though.
But no scallops.
Suddently a giant stingray swam under me. I was busy screamming through my snorkel -- partly from fright, partly from the surprise of it, and partly from utter thrill -- and I watched him undulate away. Absoutely amazing!
And then I saw it.
One reasonable-sized scallop hanging out on the bottom right below me. I had to act fast before the current pulled me away, so I dove down there are strained to grab him. Dangitall....didn't get it before my lungs almost exploded, so I popped to the surface and immediately headed back down. This time -- eureka! Success.
But this scallop was having NONE of it. This guy fought. I was not expecting the strength and force of what this little dude was capable of. He opened and shut his shell fiercely, and wiggled his very being around in an attempt to free himself. He spit on me, and then gave up and clamped tight.
I named him Floyd.
That was all that I needed. Just the one! It was a thrill finding him and after a quick photo op (probably not as quick as Floyd would have liked it), I let him go to live another day.
That wasn't my only animal adventure for the day, though.
I was taking an early morning beach walk with my lovely and badass friend Claudette, when I finally got to see what I have been dreaming of seeing all these years -- a freshly-hatched baby turtle. The ranger waved me over and Claudette and I shrieked with joy seeing this little squirmy guy.
Actually, I shouldn't say little. He was a hecka lot bigger than I thought a freshly hatched turtle would be.
We named him Tyrone.
And believe it or not, Claudette was the one to name him before I could even suggest it. Those that know me, know i have this thing about naming animals I see.
She is definitely a soul mate.
So that was an amazing day seeing fascinating sealife and hanging with my badass friends.
Speaking of friends, I had a crazy-cool friend week, with three great things that happened.
I was able to meet my sorority sister and dear friend Julie in person for the first time in 30 years! Those of you who have been following this blog will remember Julie from Adventure #9 - "The Scariest One Yet and Chi Omega Yours Forever". She hasn't changed a bit and it was a wonderful time catching up on the last 30 years over lunch. My only regret is that I could have stayed much longer for lunch.
2. I just finished reading the new Elin Hildebrand book titled The Five Star Weekend. In the book, the main character pulls a friend from each stage of her life together for a weekend to see if they all click.
My mind started racing. I thought and thought about how much fun it would be to bring the amazing people from each stage of my life together just like she did in the book. Instead of a weekend though, we are making a text chat do, at least for right now.
Here's my five star gang so far:
Elementary School/Geneva, New York: Kristin (See advenuture # 89)
High School /Marblehead, MA: Erin
College / Philadelphia: Shay
New Mother Phase / Princeton, New Jersey: Annette
Empty Nester Phase / Downers Grove, IL: Kim (See adventure #24)
And just as I thought, it's been a hilarious adventure seeing everyone connect and sharing stories of our schenanigans from back in the day. Stay tuned for more.
3. Emily runs a game every summer called Trumpet Survior. -- which has been played by the Cornell Band for years and years. One of the challenges is that the teams need to get "endorsements" from a group of judges. This year, I got to be a judge, so it was my duty to create a challenge for the teams to complete in order to give my endorsement.
So I decided to put them through the paces of reading about my Cornell Band House advenuture #54 and asking them trivia questions related to the event.
Want to play along too? Here are the questions:
Go to www.50badassadventures.com. Read #54 adventure. Answer these questions:
What game did I play in the attic at Haus?
Who was my partner?
Did we win or lose?
Which school is better... Penn or Cornell? (careful, this is a trick question. Read the post carefully).
My favorite part? Making a whole bunch of Cornell students have to put in writing that "Penn is better than Cornell in every way".
It was glorious.
So thanks for 2 years of a life changing experience for me. Thanks for reading along. Thanks for encouraging me to keep going. And more than anything, thanks for badassing with me.
Wanna keep going?
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