Shark Week Oh ha-ha...

In honor of it being shark week, I thought I'd share a story that could've gone south. This isn't my story, but my mom's I'm grateful she's letting me share. Enjoy!

Our story begins on the Virgin Islands. My mom, nana, uncle, and grandad moved after my mom graduated high school in Vermont. (V's the only things these places have in common;)) My mom lived there for 6 years. She adored their beaches, crystal clear blue waters, and snorkeling. She loved diving down to scope out the beautiful parrot fish and let little fishes nibble her fingers.

So, my nana and mom were swimming/snorkeling for quite some time by this point. My mom had just taken a break, but was about to dive back down, when she felt nails scratching her shoulder. This scratch was deep enough to break skin. She rose up out of the water to find my nana looking off into the distance. She was stuttering the word and finally got it out. Sh.....Sh...Sh....Shark! My mom put her head back in the water to find a shark thrashing around, eating parrot fish.

My mom lifted herself from the water, calmly told my nana to swim as quietly as she could, back to shore. My nana began swimming forward, while my mom swam backwards. She kept her eye on the shark; she didn't want to be caught off guard if the shark were to swim their way. I'm sure this swim felt like hours, but they were finally walking on the sandy shore. Once there, they utterly collapsed. The adrenaline had absolutely worn off. (Jelly legs had set in.)

After they felt better, they pulled out a guidebook about sharks. Basically, every shark was in the book and a little synopsis about them. They flipped through it, trying to find the shark they had encountered. There it was, the bull shark and beneath the picture, "HAZARDOUS TO SWIMMERS." (Jelly body set in after reading that.)

Needless to say, I'm very happy my mom was so calm. She doesn't know how she did it. She is always thankful the shark was busy, but she saved her and my nana's life. My mom is a hero and I'm glad her survival instincts kicked in! Until next Time. Bye!

Lesson Learned: My mom is a BADASS!