Doozer takes the Plunge..

Each year as the New Year approaches people all over, young and old decide to make resolutions.  Some of them don’t make it past the end of the first month, and I am certain there are some that turn into huge life changes.  I myself have not made a New Year’s resolution in a long time.  It just feels like, I don’t have to wait till the first of the year to change something that I want to change or do something new.  I will make a list of stuff I want to accomplish.  Things like- learn to ride a bike (this will probably never happen) or ride a jet ski, and take the trip to Tarpon Springs.  Its formatted more like a checklist, and makes trying new stuff fun.

I had to work New Year’s Eve and rung in 2018 with Handy Fellow and all of our coworkers, not even acknowledging that it happened.  We did have a meal of ham, collard greens, black eyed peas, and cornbread that was pretty tasty.  I also got into some fun shenanigans with one of the security guards in the building.  At Christmas, the security guard and myself posed for pictures with a baby jesus in a manger and decided we had to get into something fun for New Year as well, so we walked around and took funny pictures.   The majority of the night was busy, I didn’t get to  talk to anyone in my family, and I was also preoccupied with something else.  A few days prior I was invited to something called Polar Plunge. Apparently this is a thing that people have been doing as a tradition for years and I had never heard about it.  It takes place at Jacksonville Beach, at 9am.  Since I had to work the night before, this had me staying up for a little bit in order to go but when someone says hey-you wanna jump in the water when its freezing-you say hell yes!!

I arrived a little before 9 since we wanted to take pictures and also I didn’t know how the parking would be.  I found a spot really easily, and was greeted by a very enthusiastic man that asked (ok shouted) ARE YOU HERE TO PLUNGE?? he also offered me some adult beverage and said he could help keep me warm.  I politely declined and went to find my friends. There were huge groups of people all milling about, all excited, all freezing.  I quickly met up with my group and we started asking WHY are we doing this? Are we that stupid? There was a moment where we could have turned back, we could have just went to our warm beds and leave the savagery on the beach.  Instead we walked up the wooden stairs to see that the tide had all but eroded the shoreline and it was literally RIGHT in front of us.  We were surrounded by an excitement that can not even be described.  All around us people were splashing, screeching, jumping up and down.  We took the first couple steps and were hit by some ice cold waves that made the whole thing entirely too real.  Soon the water was up around our waist and chest areas and we just stood there hugging, screaming and laughing.  We scurried up the sand and back to the spot where we had dropped our clothes and towels, and I realized- its not that cold anymore once you get out!  It was probably cause I had some mild hypothermia and couldn’t really feel my legs.

After the plunge we stood around for a bit kind of amazed at just how savage we really are, and we took some pics. We all took off in our own directions to get to our cars.  When I got back in mine I was a little warmer, but still soaked, and it was drizzling.  I did’t really even bother trying to get clean and dry, I just covered my seat with the towel and jumped in the car.  Later, wrapped in warm dry clothes, and snuggled with my tiny sidekick, I thought to myself.. What makes you do the crazy things you do? And the answer to that is this.  I was tired from working all night, I was cold and wet. But those things are all temporary.  The memories that I make with this group of other insane people will last me a life time.  I will always have the power of being fearless.  2018 is underway and while I know for a fact this Polar Plunge will not be the last of my badassery, it sure was a great way to welcome the New Year.  I hope you all did something fun or interesting to get you started too; and I hope all your resolutions become life long memories as well.