Listen Learn Love

Dolphins again, where I’d just been swimming! So graceful and quiet, arcing through the glassy ocean.

Swam distance for the third time this week, each stroke a delight. Today the sun is bright, creating rainbows on the coral heads, one shaped like a heart. Rays stream down to the ocean floor, the reverse of those god rays we see when the clouds are just right. Watched fish jump out of the sea from below, and crash back in. Once, yellow gull feet paddled by while I was under, a startling sight. 

Habibi and I went for a spin yesterday, leaving the laguna for the first time since the water pump failed, more than a month ago. Free at last! Light wind, calm sea, a glorious day to be out and about. I practiced my new mantra: listen, learn, love. I listened to the engine — sounds steady, bilge pump not active, therefore no leak. I learned what air and water current do to Habibi’s speed, depending on whether we’re with (faster) or against (slower), something I knew theoretically, but now know kinesthetically. And I loved the sea, every single moment. Scared sometimes, yeah, but never gonna give her up. 

Learning is hard because, for some reason, I believe I should already know. And part of me does know, a lot of the time. That’s where listening comes in, I guess. Learning also takes practice, rehearsal. Maybe that’s why I liked acting and dancing — lots of rehearsal, plus a script or choreography to follow. But, actually, we’re learning all the time. That’s what living is. And love? That’s a given, basic, although don’t confuse it with tolerance. Some folks I learned to love from a distance, something a friend suggested years ago.

Listen, learn, love — a twist on those Live Love Laugh pillows you see sometimes, which is also good advice. Happy holidays.