Beginning with !

Yesterday I took the plunge into a brisk Buzzards Bay. Temperatures were well above “numbing” but not quite “refreshing“. It was more in the “you get used to it” range. I find that more than acceptable, if a bit lonely. It seems most still have it in the numbing category and there was a lot of elbow room in the water. I’m still a bit of an outlier it seems. And as memorable as the brisk swim was, it wasn’t the highlight. That came later when my son made us an amazing dinner from scratch. I’ll remember both, and isn’t that the point? Make life memorable through experiences.

Today I find myself back in New Hampshire and got straight back to plunging into the deep end of the pool to start the day. Water temperature in the pool is firmly in the refreshing stage. So it was just me and those bubbles, once again rising to the surface. These are days you’ll remember in January, or someday when you aren’t able to do this, so take advantage of them now. That statement applies to so much more than jumping into water. Today’s plunge wasn’t as memorable as yesterday’s, but its early yet and I’ll look for that next magic moment as the day progresses. I’m planning a long row at lunchtime, and another plunge with a few laps would be a nice reset before the afternoon stretch of work.

I’ve long believed that you need to add an exclamation point on every day. Have you done one of those one line per day journals? An exclamation point might be that one line you’d write about. It would certainly be the thing you’d most like remember about the day. Of course every moment can’t be an exclamation point moment. You’d be exhausted. Its the equivalent of shouting all the time, but taking the highlighter out and marking this particular moment, well, why not? What are we saving exclamation points for anyway? There’s only today. Get to it already.