I’m back home from my trip near the equator!!!  I’m sitting here in my special room with all the candles lit… I actually attached a picture of one of my candles.   I think it’s the perfect time to share the final blog about what I’ve learned from the sea.  This last blog, is about the lesson that causes me the most frustration.  

With all these scary , and crazy things that happened to me in the sea, one experience sticks out the most. When I was 9 and in sailing school……  I loved spending time in my sunfish alone.  I would just sing to the fish and the birds and feel the wind.  One day I felt this INCREDIBLE peace come over me.  All my friends jumped in the lake to swim, but I just stared at the water,  and felt myself melt into some kind of ecstasy.  In my life, I had never felt a peace like this, and to this day I have not experienced it again.  The sun just melted me.  The next thing I knew, the instructors were carrying me to the club house.  They laid me down on a lawn chair and covered me in Ice.  Turns out I had a Heat stroke.  My temp was over 105……

This experience really taught me that just because something FEELS really good, doesn’t mean it’s good for you at all(The Heat)….  And that  something that FEELS bad, might actually be good for you(Ice)….  This lesson is one of the most frustrating paradoxes in my life.  I think too much…..  and this is the  lesson I am still trying to figure out. Honestly makes me really irritated.  But then again………  The heat would have been fine in moderation, and there would not have even been ice in the equation……… But the problem was, I didn’t know I was over doing it, until the ice woke me……..  See what I mean?  ….. Lastly……  I must honestly tell you, that I am not upset that I experienced the stroke, because the peace was so incredible.  I would rather feel that experience, than never feel any of it at all, but I can say that, only because I ended up not hurt….. My head is starting to swirl.  When I figure out this lesson decisively…..  I’ll write another blog or song…. but until then…… I wish you JUST the right amount of sunshine and warmth……  One that WON’T and CAN’T hurt you…. And I’ll wish the same for myself!!!  :0)   Thanks for visiting……. and I hope you enjoyed my 3 part blog about The Sea and I….. and what it has taught me! :0).

Peace To You,

Lex

In my last Blog, The Sea and I: Part 1…… I spoke about the wind, and how if you try to control it, It’s going to let you know what’s up……. Part 2 is a different story….. But still a little lesson I’ve learned from the beautiful sea!!!

When I was 15, I had this giant crush on this boy that was 1 year older than I. All the kids from my school went to this camp with our youth group. They had sailboats, and so I signed up for sailing. My crush got wind that I passed the test, and was allowed to take boats out alone, and so he joined me. This camp was in Minnesota, and we were on this giant lake having a blast. He kept saying,,,,, “I can’t believe you know how to do this”, and then…… the sky turned dark, and a storm blew in really fast. The wind was so strong that the boat turtled and was STUCK upside down. We kept trying to climb on the dagger board and turn the boat back up, but we would just get knocked off by the humongous waves. My crush started freaking out. We were so cold, and lighting started striking down everywhere, and the thunder boomed as if it was coming from hell. He kept saying….. “I thought you knew how to sail”, and then he would say”, “we‘re gonna die from Hypothermia”….. I just couldn’t stop laughing. I started laughing so hard I started to cry…. And he started getting so scared and mad at me for laughing that he started to cry. The madder he got, the harder I laughed. Finally the camp came for us. Turned out the Master Pole broke, and they had to tow us to shore. My crush was traumatized forever. We stayed friends, but it was never quite the same after that.

That day I learned several things about myself. I could list them all….. But instead I’ll list the one I feel is the most important lesson. Never be TOO confident in life….. and ALWAYS have a plan for that unexpected storm…….. Then it is not a storm…. Just a beautiful display of electricity….. and mother nature at work!

Attached is a little snippet of some footage we took, for my next Music Video, for a song I wrote called “Swept Away”…… Hope you enjoy it…… I’ll be honest though….. I still suffer a little PTS from the incident I wrote of above. That adrenaline  just always rushes as the wind  picks up in my sales!!!!  :0)

Peace To You,
Lex

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq83ybSXnOs[/youtube]

Part 1

I am by the Sea, and since I can remember, the sea has always played a big part in my life. I’ve learned a lot from the sea. I long to be in the water, by the water, all the time….. It feeds my soul in some mysterious way…… and it is a true metaphor to me, for life. I often write about the sea in songs.

I grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. Indianapolis is an area absent of water, except the white(dirty) River, and a reservoir called Geist. When I was a child, Geist was owned by the water company, accept for one tiny parcel of land, that was owned by the Indianapolis Sailing Club. Every weekend my mom and dad would race their sailboat, and for 5-7 hours I would play hide and seek in the shipyard, make bottle boats, or hide in the ladies room and draw pictures until my parents returned to their dock. My dad was from Morehead City, NC and I knew he needed to sail. He worked so hard during the week, and when we would drive to the club, I would see this twinkle in his eye, that just made me know that the world was good!!!

When I was about 12, my mom got the flue, and I had to be the second mate. My dad and I were in first place in this particular race. It was an unbelievable day, and I was just sooo excited because my dad liked to win, and he was in heaven, Towards the last hour of the race, a storm blew in! Things got REALLY exciting. We were about to win, and needed to make a jibe. I couldn’t get the jib up, so my father asked me to take his place ,and take over the rudder while he put the jib up. He said “Now, When I yell turn port, You turn port”…. He got the jib up and yelled “Turn Port” and of course my dyslexia and anxiety got my mind all mixed up, and I turned starboard, and he flew off the boat. He was screaming, I was screaming, and fortunately this all happened close to this little island, so I ran the boat ashore, and my dad was able to get back on the boat. We ended up coming in last. He was actually pretty cool about the whole thing. Didn’t really say much……. But I was just so bummed out for letting him down.

After I got over my disappointment, I continued to sail. I had become pretty good at sailing, and I actually won the Junior Regatta. Sailing is like writing a song. If you don’t think, and you just feel the wind……..guiding the sails becomes natural. But if you start trying to manipulate the wind….. You just better watch out…….. cause the wind’s got a mind of it’s own…..and it will let you know what’s up!!! Stay tuned later this week for Part 2, in a three part series……….All about what the wind and Sea mean to me! 😆

Peace Out, Lex