set it and forget it

gosh, i just love it when something so serendipitous happens that it just about stops your heart and you think, did that really just work out so incredibly perfectly? someone pinch me please...

during the last third of my aussie trip, i'm planning on going to queensland & seeing the great barrier reef. i really want to dive the reef, first because it's a "must see" on any trip to australia, second because i snorkeled for the first time when i was in grand cayman & it made me really want to learn how to dive, and third because (not to be cynical but) with the way we've been treating our earth, unless we collectively clean up our act real soon, there may not be much of the reef ecosystem left in 20 years, so i want to see it as thoroughly as possible now.

the only kink in the plans is that getting scuba certified is a 4 day process & it's expensive. i thought about doing it in australia, but those 4 days of training would be my whole time in cairns. i looked into doing it in LA and the price was pretty steep - its tough, $400 = 4 days in australia, but those $400 invested in scuba could make my time in aussie more enjoyable... i went back & forth.

i came to the final verdict - i want to scuba dive. i'm not sure how it's going to happen or where the money's going to come from, but i'm not going to worry about it now. and i put it away in the back of my brain with the very secure feeling that all will be well. somehow.

weeks went by. and then, out of the blue...

a friend on facebook posted, as her status, that she had an extra pass to get scuba certified this weekend & who would like to join her?

uh, say wha?

turns out she'd won two scuba certification courses, including equipment, at a silent auction for $100. that. price. is. ridiculous. and she had already called a bunch of people who all turned her down, before posting it on facebook while i just happened to be online to see it. so of course, heart pounding, i wrote to her immediately, terrified that i was hallucinating & this incredibly perfect deal wasn't real, and typed "ME ME ME!!" like the overzealous kid in school with her hand raised so energetically to get the teacher's attention that she's bouncing in her chair.

i got her attention. :)

so, this weekend and next, i will be learning how to scuba dive for $50 plus the cost of gas & a boat ride out to catalina. by the time i get to australia, i will be PADI certified, confident with an air tank & flippers, and armed with an underwater camera. pretty awesome. (smirk) i knew it all along, i just let the universe work out the details for me...

today i am so grateful and happy for:
~ trusting & good things coming to fruition
~ generous friends
~ feeling productive
~ exciting plans

xo! n.