Live your moment

The first thing I think of when I see this picture? That it's certainly not the most flattering. The second thing I think of is how it was such an epic moment. I had just gone for a swim in the ocean with flying fish close by. My friend and I went for one last swim on the far end of the beach before flying out the next day. She went back to the States, Ron and I went to Denmark.
I also want to tell my friends to not back down from your epic moments. Don't take a less than model perfect picture and hide it away. This was a tidal moment for me. Big knees, big arms, and all. I don't care what it looks like to others. This was a precious moment to me. I had also conquered a fear, because I'm paranoid about swimming in the ocean, and all the things I can't see. I can go in up to my shoulders, but past that, I'm all nerves.
This picture reminds me of how my Mom loves me, she bought me that bathing suit that was too big, but that's the way I liked it.
I'm not at all a model, but I'm all me. I think this world needs more people who are true to themselves. More genuine. I love people who have a dream, and they are excited about chasing down that dream. I see people who are so caught up in things that are based in fear and anger. Anger is deeply connected to fear, and fear has a lot to do with a lack of understanding. Obviously I'm just making general statements. But I see people who tell me that they wish they could travel like I do. "So do it!" I say. They say they can't because of this and this and that. It must be terrible to want something and not believe you can get it. Or tell yourself you want something, complain about it, and then not take steps towards it. Like people who want to go to Europe but are afraid of flying on a plane. At least that I understand. But if you want to travel, take a look closer around. The United States is full of amazing places to go and see.
It feels a bit like Europe when I walk into some of the larger than life casinos in Las Vegas. Like the Venetian. It feels like a cultural boost when I go to Walmart here. So many people talking with accents, or in a foreign language to their kids. Men wearing dresses, or turbans. Women wearing a shari dress, having a head covering. Some cover everything but their eyes. It feels like the whole world is in the spice aisle of the store.
I wanted to go to Poland, so I went online and made friends with people there. When we went, I had one who met us and showed us around Warsaw, and it was amazing. Some people have dreams and they are afraid of their dreams. Because they are no where close to their dreams. They dream of being famous, but they don't like speaking in front of crowds, things like that. They fear the distance between what they think they will love, and what it takes to get there. All a dream is, is something we think we will love. Sometimes what really makes our heart sing shows up along the way to what we thought we wanted.
I have done both. I have lived so wild and off grid. Then craved the stability of the same job for 7 years with steady hours and health insurance. I was playing safe. Now I want adventure. I want to be adventure. There is adventure here in the Seattle area! There is adventure in every day, although some days I have to work a bit harder to put it there. Not every day is a mad dash to an airport where all the signs are in a strange language that uses weird letters. When I'm not on an adventure, I'm planning one.
I decided that I could have epic moments all along the way. That's why this picture is so important to me, even though I kind of want to photo shop it. Because society has ingrained in me that if I don't have the perfect body, then maybe it's not worth taking a picture of it. Shame on you society, for trying to say shame on me for not being in shape, with the perfect tan and the perfect bikini. I dropped weight after this though. It was a good summer for me. This picture was taken in April of this year. Now I'm trying to get focused on developing healthy eating habits. My newest passion. Wish me luck, because I'm a sugar freak. If I can say No to the chocolate bars that are at every checkout stand, then I claim that victory. If the day isn't epic, then I put some epic in the day.
My current Epic Moments are every day for the last 8 days making my writing goal. I'm at over 14,000 words. I'm learning cool new things. I have decided that 5 cool things is pretty close to 1 epic one. I am learning great things for my book. Check out this link. I am writing about an island, and I may have just introduced a mermaid kind of people, but I want to base as much as I can on something that is real. If I didn't see that it was already invented, I would have invented it myself. It's just cool that it isn't make believe. Maybe at the end of my book I'll have a page of links of cool things like this that I've found on the way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_40_Fruit

If my day doesn't have any outstanding moments in it, then I create some in my book. Yesterday I saw a TV show about otters and I loved how they moved, and how the sea otters defied the cold. So I did some research, because I want some mermaid-ish people in my book now. I want to be one with the otter, so I can represent my love of their lifestyle and freedom and agility. Plus they look pretty cool. I made them slaves to the island people. Their Goddess decided she liked the island people better, they appreciated her more, she liked how they worshiped her. So she made the otter people slaves to the island people. But don't worry, both of the people are going to rebel against that Goddess. And win. For a while. She's not the main Goddess, I needed lots of room to write, so there are 6 sister Goddesses.