A Good Run

Dang it. Those of you that know me, know that I get nostalgic over material things. I have my original D50 that my buddy keeps offering me $100 for but I can’t part with it because it took the first pictures of Ella. I have t-shirts from high school that I can’t part with because I still remember where I was when I wore them 22 years ago. Sometimes the memories aren’t good enough for me, I need the stuff.

I bought this dive mask 16 years ago when I first started diving. It fit absolutely perfectly. It went through the classes with me and my dad. It’s been to the Keys with me, it’s been in the Atlantic, it’s been on shipwrecks in Lake Erie. Once I lost it after surfacing from a wreck dive 7 miles out in 63 feet of water. I marked the spot on GPS and planned to return the next day, only storms rolled in. By the time I got there I found it but only about 1” of the mask strap was exposed in the silt.

I fix pools on the side for a local pool company. Today I was fixing an indoor pool and I came out to load all of my stuff up in my truck when I was done. As I put the tailgate down, I notice that I drop the bag containing my mask. No big deal. I load everything up and head home. Once I get home, I discover that I don’t have my mask. I forgot to pick it up. Now, this isn’t good. I made an 8 point turn at the end of the driveway to get turned around and the mask was laying behind my truck.

I head back to the house and I see the bag laying in the driveway. It doesn’t look smashed. As I get closer, I see a tire track going directly over the bag. Once I pick it up, my worst fears are confirmed as it sounds like a baby’s rattle. I open the big to find that I am now the proud owner of a mask.....and 200 pieces of glass.

One could argue that spending $200 on a mask and using it for 16 years was money well spent. That’s not the point for me. Memories man, memories....that’s the point. While I keep stuff, I am not a hoarder. I reluctantly put it in the trash and have started the search for a new mask.

In the whole scheme of things this isn’t really a big deal but it’s a big deal today.

Dang it.