I’m allowed to be proud

On Sunday – the same day that his sister was having her dream come true – my son was diving with sharks ( you could not make up the weekend our family had last weekend)! His girlfriend gave him this as a gift for his 21st Birthday – in a spirit of love not malice!!

I have to say that as the day came closer I became more and more nervous about it myself. Not the shark bit you understand. I could see no way that any company would advertise an experience that may get them really bad publicity if there was any real danger. No – what bothered me was the diving bit. Real diving – with an air tank and drysuit.

So with his Dad and girlfriend I pitched up on Sunday to give him moral support. We left him to do his training and we wandered round the other areas spending time watching seals and frogs ( which is a BIG challenge for me as I have frog phobia).

Then the time came and he descended the rope into the tank in front of us.

And I was bursting with pride.

He had been concerned about doing it but kept it very low key.

We did the shark alert sign – the side of your hand on your head indicating the fin  – and he indicated back to us that he was scared ( in a mock funny way). A conger eel swam past. We have that on video and he did not like that one bit.

But when he came out of the water he said he had loved the experience and was keen to do it again.

Some people back out at the last minute – and are absolutely right to do so. We all have a real cut off point where doing something that you don’t want to might be dangerous – but many of us jump ship before that. By doing so we might be missing something very special.