Love Was in the Air

This is a picture of my third son, my middle child, taken over the Columbus Day weekend. He and one of his lovely BCF's (best cousin friends) and her husband flew out to San Diego to visit another BCF who's stationed out there, a beautiful young Navy helicopter pilot about whom I've written before ("Touching the Face of God...," July 18 ). On Monday, his last day there, my boy and his pilot cousin took a trip to Sea World, and they had the time of their lives. While he was waiting to board his red-eye flight back home from the West Coast Monday night, he called to tell me to check out the pictures posted on his Facebook page--and this is what I found! Look at that face: doesn't it melt you? (I'm talking about my son's face, although the dolphin's is pretty dang cute, too.)

The other day, I said that I don't have much of a bucket list and that all of my lifelong dreams have already been fulfilled. When I said that, I forgot about one thing: I've always wanted to do THIS! I think it would be really cool to swim with dolphins. When I saw this photo of my charming, adorable boy hanging out with his smiling dolphin friend, it delighted me, but didn't surprise me. This son of mine is a guy who works hard when he's supposed to, but plays hard, too, whenever he gets the chance. He's my happy-go-lucky, glass-is-half-full boy. He loves meeting new people and traveling to new places; he sees the good in pretty much everyone he meets and the fun and adventure to be found in every place he visits. He is a friend to all, not just dolphins, and a joy to be around.

My son and his cousin loved this experience. He said that they could have just interacted with the dolphins from the sidelines for a reasonable fee, but they decided to pay the much higher price so that they could actually get into the pool with them. He was amazed at how intelligent these animals were and just had a grand time interacting with them. He was embarrassed to tell me what he spent to enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime experince. But I figure hey, he might as well do it now, while he's young and single and can afford it. And plus, he actually spent only slightly more to splash around with the dolphins on Columbus Day than I did to have that pesky squirrel removed from my house by Animal Control! I think he got more bang for his buck than I did!Apparently, love was in the air at Sea World. But it was in the air back at my son's home in VA, too; because hours later, on the same day that he kissed this dolphin, his buddy--and housemate--got down on one knee in a candlelit room, proposed to yet another one of his lovely BCF's (my sons have a lot of cousins), and slipped a diamond ring on her finger. Who knew Columbus Day could be so filled with romance?!

Congratulations, B and L! We're so happy for you!