Monday, April 13

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I applied for an Administrative Assistant position in the Club's Food and Beverage department. I don't have a lot of qualifications for the job, but I hope that they'll give me a shot. What am I saying?? I am bright and enthusiastic, and I will give 100% effort in this job. They will hire me, and I will knock their socks off with how great I do. There, that's more like it. Think positively, Fern. Sometimes I have to remind myself.

I'm going to look at a studio apartment on Thursday morning that might actually be in my price range, even at my current job! I hope it's not a dump. If I get this place and the new job, I'll be floating in cash! Well, not quite floating, but it will kind of seem like it.

I'm not thrilled about looking at the apartment at 7:30 a.m. but the owner wanted to meet before she has to be at work. Oh well, that will get me up and moving early. Besides, if this lady is going to be my new landlord, I want her to like me. She said the apartment is in their house, but has a separate entrance. I need to be sure to check the family out while I'm there. They require a one-year lease, and I don't want to be living adjacent to a crazy family for the next year.

I did learn something rather unfortunate today. When I was at the H.R. department applying for the administrative job, I saw Jared's name on a list of employees who'd just completed their 90-day probationary period. His last name is Greene. I'm not sure how I hadn't heard his last name before. He was just sort of absorbed into our group a couple of months ago, and I only ever heard him referred to as 'Jared, the new dive master.'

Greene is one of the few last names that I can think of that is actually worse than Burns for someone named Fern. Fern Greene sounds pretty ridiculous. On official forms, it would be listed as Greene, Fern. People will think it's some kind of a joke. I know that Jared and I haven't even been on an official date yet, but the seventh grader in me likes to think ahead, and she hears wedding bells. Jared and I have been doing some serious flirtation with each other, and it really is perfect because we already have the same friends. I guess I can get past the name thing. It's not like I have enjoyed an un-ridiculous sounding name thus far.

[Note to self: Be sure not to mention anything about Fern Greene to Jared. I don't want him to think I'm crazy because I'm already jumping ahead in my mind to marriage. I need to keep those thoughts and comments under wraps until we have dated for at least six months.]

Our entire group of friends is going on a night dive next Tuesday. The owner of the dive shop where Marina works has agreed to let us take one of the boats out for free, as long as the boat isn't chartered, and Tuesday is usually a slow night for charters. All we have to pay for is the fuel we use. He's not normally that generous, so we gladly agreed. I'm excited because Jared will be there. I'm also a little nervous, though. Of all of our friends, I am the least experienced scuba diver. Most of the others work at dive shops and go out on the boats on a daily basis. They are seriously hard-core divers who then choose to dive on their days off, as well.

I don't love diving as much as the rest of them do. Diving in the ocean is amazingly beautiful, and I can't deny that it's a completely different, colorful world down there. My problem is that I find myself constantly wondering what sea creature is behind me, watching and waiting to swallow me whole. While the others are blissfully peaceful, I am constantly whirling around, certain that something is eyeballing me as its next meal.

This will be my first night dive, which makes me extremely nervous. The ocean will be dark, except for where my dive light is shining. That leaves a lot of dark places for predators to lurk. I know it is illogical for me to fret like this. People go diving all the time and don't get eaten, but the possibility is always looming in my thoughts. It's a big ocean. What are the chances that I'll be the tastiest morsel some sea creature can find for dinner? Slim, I hope.

I can't miss out on this opportunity for several reasons, though. The number one reason is that it will be a fantastic time for Jared and I to bond. Another reason is that it will be my first chance to see phytoplankton. The rest of the group is always raving about how cool it is to wave your hand around in seawater at night and see the microscopic creatures glow. Secretly, that kind of freaks me out, but I would never admit that to the others. Finally, I need to face my fears, and what better place is there to do that than the Christ of the Abyss statue?

That statue is the main reason why I now live in Key Largo. When I came down here on vacation three years ago, I had just gotten my diving certification card, and I wanted to do a dive at the statue that I had seen in a picture in the free scuba diving magazine I received with my C-Card. The charter boat that I stumbled upon was performing an underwater wedding at the statue that day. The happy couple invited me to be one of their witnesses, so I gladly signed the waterproof clipboard and fell in love with the Keys' lifestyle that day. The bride was oddly striking in her white wetsuit with her hair floating around wildly as she wrote, "I do" on the slate.

They invited me to their wedding reception that was held at an outdoor tiki bar. This wild, funny, crazy group of people treated me like family. I had never met anyone like them, and I didn't want the amazing feeling of belonging, that I was overwhelmed with, to stop. I spent the rest of my vacation securing a job, and the rest is history. I still exchange occasional emails with the happy couple from the wedding that day, and I am looking forward to their return vacation to the Keys that they keep promising will happen soon.

Thinking about that unique wedding always makes me smile. Sometimes when I get caught up in day-to-day problems like annoying boyfriends of roommates, I forget that I live in such a relaxed and wonderful place. I need to work on letting the little things go and keeping my 'island attitude' more constant.

'Don't worry. Be happy.' That's me from now on.


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The Keys to my Diary ~ FernWhere stories live. Discover now