It feels like the first time ...

There are so many firsts that I could post about today. Like Lisabet, I was 15 when I lost the cherry. But unlike her's, mine wasn't such a wonderful experience. The schmuck tapped one of my friends later that night after pressuring me for weeks to have sex in the first place. So ... nope. Not posting about that.

Then there was the first, nope, not gonna do that one. Um, how about the, err, nor that one either.

Hum ...

Unlike, it seems, most of my fellow Grippers, I have never really lived.

I'm 31 years old, I have a husband, a preteen daughter, and I am in college. I went from living with my parents to living with my (then fiancee) husband at 17. I am also one of those scared at just about everything people. I have a more than healthy fear of death, so some of the funnest stuff I pass by. I have also never really traveled beyond the states (see that I am in college part --> no money LOL).

So for my 'the first time' post, I want to talk about the first time I really felt I have lived. It was this past summer, and I was terrifed almost the whole dang time.

See, I am a geek (see previous post if this fact is in double) and a biology major on top of that. So I get to do the fun classes like Marine Ecology, with the only problem being, we are in Missouri. Completely land locked. So, our field course portion took place in Belize. Because, well, why go to Florida or California when you can go just a bit further to Central Am.

It kicked ass! But well, for starters, we had to fly, which I am not to keen on. Then we had to take a little 12 seater out to the island of Ambergris Caye. The runway had dogs on it, and the baggage claim was a dirt patch. I was white-knuckled the whole flight. I even made my husband (who is also a bio major so he got to take the class too) take a different flight out, just in case my plane went down. The professors got a kick out it.

Then we got to our loggings, after the taxi ride from hell. Most everyone drove golf carts on the island and the taxis were the big vans which didn't seem to have brakes.

Long story short there, we got settled and the next day headed out to the boat.

I am terrified of boats, of drowning, of having my head under water, etc. And I am allergic to chlorine, so I wasn't able to proactice snorkeling in a pool much before hand. So I have to sit on this little platform on the back of the boat and puch myself into the water. After watching others go off the back and slide under the water. Boyant in salt water my ass. LOL

Well, it took someone pushing me off while someone else pulled me, but I made it into the water. Where I proceeded to wrap my arms and legs around the ladder and not want to let go. Thankfully hubby is well versed in my issues and managed to pry my hands loose and get me to moving. We repeated this pattern both dives of each of the seven days, although without the ladder part. Just a little paniced dog paddling.

I had a frickin blast! During the course of the week we swam with a loggerhead turtle, nurse sharks, green sea turtles, tons of rays, assorted other fish and had a manatee curious enough about us to come swim our way. We saw tons of different corals and a sunken barge that was becoming part of the reef. We went out to the Maya ruins at Lamanai and I (attempted to) climbed the ruins. I made it about a third of the way up and turned back.

We even went cave tubing on our free day, which shocked most of my classmates, cause I just don't do that kind of thing. I was even going to get into a cage at the Belize zoo and feed the "domesticated" jaguar, but we didn't have time. : (

In short, I was way outside of my comfort zone and loved every minute of it. Well, except for the food allergy where my mouth swelled shut.

If you're interested, you can read my posts about my vacation on my blog. http://eroticpen.blogspot.com/search/label/Belize (Unfortunatly, I couldn't figure out how to get them out of reverse order.)

I came back from that trip exhausted, emotionally and physically, but oh so glad that I went. I even told the professors I would go again in two years when it is offered again and I am a grad student. Probabaly still have to be pushed off of the boat, but hey. We all have our issues. : )

So that is my "first time" post.

Probably not what you were expecting, but I am a geek!