Remembrance

The boat ride to Catalina Island rocked and rolled on the choppy water.  The fog made seeing anything past my nose difficult.  For the five hundredth time I thanked anything that would sit still enough to listen that I wasn't prone to seasickness.  Suddenly the clouds lifted and both of the sixth grade classes saw the island on which we would spend the next five days.  For a desert island it looked remarkably green.  It wasn't covered in forests but there were many more trees than I had been expecting.  I was on a school field trip.  This was our big field trip for the year and everyone was jumpy with nervous energy.  I
was more nervous about my cabin chaperone than anything else.  Mrs. Pudlo was a good teacher but she was more rigid than a ruler.  I doubted that our cabin could get away with anything other than spotless conditions.
    To put a very long story short she was strict.  Our cabin was in trouble before we had been on the island more than three hours.  I think that's a record.  I don't remember much of that day other than getting a CIMI (Catalina Island Marine Institute) instructor.  I was in the Sharks, on of the main groups partly because I was on the swim team and  because I had experience swimming in the ocean. (We did a lot of snorkeling during our stay so groups were divided by skills, swimming being one.)
    The mule deer appeared at sunset.  He was a young buck judging by the antlers he lifted with such pride.  He came cautiously to the edge of the slope behind the cabins and bent his head to graze.  There must have been some signal because, out of the gloom came a doe with her fawn.  Someone bumped into something and the noise frightened the deer.  There are many other types of plant and animal life on and around Catalina Island but these deer were the first that we had seen.
    The morning of September 11th dawned bright and clear.  Sixty-six young students lined up as they had the day before: eager to see what surprises were in store.  Two boys had to go up and sing to et back the belongings the had left on the walkway after lights out.  The first plane hit the first tower.  The laughter that had rang throughout the island faded.  The instructors got up to notify students where they would be going for the day.  The second plane hit. Know one noticed that one of the female counselors was missing from the others who stood on the walk way above us.  Know one noticed as that night the parents and teachers who returned from the meeting that night looked a little forlorn, shocked, and unbelieving.  Well perhaps someone noticed but the best answer we got was "Oh, I'm just a little tired that's all."  Every adult smiled that night but the smile did not reach their eyes.
    Kayaking was a blast but it was hard.  Everything seemed to go wrong.  No one could get their strokes synchronized with their partners.  No one could seem to go in the right direction.  I don't know about everyone else but I was relieved when we finally stopped and had the challenge.  First we had to stand up in our kayak.  This is tricky because if you aren't careful when you do this not only will you fall over the side but you might capsize the kayak.  My partner stood up first and just when they had gotten upright a swell rocked the boat.  He sat down quickly and didn't try again.  Now it was my turn.  I planted my feet and rose slowly.  Just as I had gotten upright and was sighing in relief when a huge swell rocked the boat and I was thrown into the sea.  Everything was black and cold.  I almost screamed but bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself.  I kicked out and let my life jacket pull me to the top.  My kayak was only five feet away but it took me some time to reach it because it kept floating away.  When I reached I realized what I had gotten myself into.  Getting into a kayak that dips and leans in every little motion is not the easiest thing to climb into.  I managed in the end.
    Uh oh.  I thought, They would pick rock climbing.  I have been terrified of heights since first grade.  I had never been that way before but in first grade as I was sitting on a bar with my feet dangling in the space between the next bar someone decided it would be funny if they yanked on my feet.  She walked right under me but I didn't see her until I felt cold hands on my ankles.  She pulled me straight through the bars before I realized what had happened.  My head got knocked around and I was bruised but otherwise fine.  Because of this any time I got above ten feet in the air without something solid to stand on or hang onto I freaked and convinced myself that I would fall.  I didn't get very far up the wall because I froze on the second ledge after I looked down.  On the ground, i turned my head to see where I had stopped climbing and I turned scarlet.  I had been barely fifteen feet off of the ground.
    Two days later we were on the ferry ride home watching as our counselors dived of the pier into the cold, cold ocean.  It was funny because Craig, my groups counselor did a back flip and almost landed in a belly flop.  When the island once again became shrouded by mist, I turned and faced home and, though we didn't know it then, news that would change our lives.
    I was, at least for a while, strangely detached form the events of September 11th.  They still effected me and I was still shocked and upset by the news but I wasn't there watching that night or as it happened when the news rocked the nation.  It was as if I had turned around for just one moment and now I had to sprint to catch up with the rest of the world.