Be Bold, Get Cold!
It’s that time of year again to put on your swim suit and take a plunge in the ocean.
Join thousands of other polar bears, errr... make that brave souls... as they take a dive on February 2nd for Special Olympics! Last year’s event featured snow on the sand so be prepared for a bit of a cold jaunt down the beach to the welcoming waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Why would you want to freeze your fur off? To raise money for the Special Olympics athletes, and, let’s face it, to say you were part of something amazing!
Last year, I took my Girl Scout Troop to Rehoboth Beach, DE to join in the fun. The girls had paid the registration fee in time and had raised additional donations, so they earned sweatshirts, which they donned immediately upon receipt. That put them in a league with countless other polar bears wandering the sidewalks of Rehoboth, visiting the gift shops, waiting for the time to come to gather at the shore’s edge. What creativity we saw in the outfits that other groups wore! Not just shirts or jackets but funny hats, scarves... All with team names emblazoned. So much pride in doing something so good for others! Even in the cold weather, you could feel the warmth of emotions. Or maybe that was just adrenaline pumping through us as we gathered courage to jump in the ocean.
Wait. I didn’t jump in.
I was an official “holder of the towels and warm clothing.”
I watched from the warmth of my sweater, winter coat, gloves, and scarf as my daughter and her sister Girl Scouts peeled down to their bikinis and raced like the teenagers they are, with great glee, toward the inviting ocean. It must have been inviting. I mean, they were smiling!
The crowd was huge so I lost sight of them quickly and there were so many cries of “%$#&*! that is COLD” that I couldn’t have heard their voices over the din but momentarily, they reappeared. I think I heard something about my daughter dragging one of the other girls in a bit deeper than they intended to go but then there was also some comment about losing footing or maybe even a foot. I don’t know. It was cold. I do know that they vowed to wear water shoes the next time, like 99% of the others on the beach had. Turns out, we were surrounded by veteran polar bears.
They decided they need soft, thick white robes, emblazoned with polar bears on the back for the plunge this year so at our holiday party in December, they each received robes from me, plus little stuffed polar bears from orientaltrading.com. We’ll decorate the robes at the meeting this week, make our plans for a better entry into the ocean this year, and I’ll make my plans for how to best hold down the fort while they do that.
If you’d like to make a donation to the cause, let me know. My polar bear daughter would be happy to accept the donation on behalf of her Troop. And if you plan to be in Delaware on February 2nd and would like to cool off, join us for the Plunge!
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