A Wave of Change

As you all know, this holiday season has been bittersweet for the Moz 17, my training group. We were all together regionally for Christmas, but with heavy hearts as we mourned the loss of two colleagues who were killed in a car accident on the 20^th. Needless to say, we have all been struggling a bit. I have been struggling to grapple with this news, and was having a tough time figuring out how to handle it.

Which brings us to New Year ’s Eve. A group of 15 of Moz 17, 16, and 15ers (us, the previous health group, and the previous ed/health group) spent our time in Angoche. We started our celebration a little earlier in the day, and as a result, our energy levels were dragging by about 8 or 9 pm. But we rallied our group, and hung out on the roof of the apartment complex for a couple hours preceding midnight. That’s when the creative thoughts occurred. We’re in an ocean town, with the beach a five minute walk away. Why not go skinny dipping for New Year’s?

And that’s exactly what we did. But that’s not the exciting part. As we charged into the shallow water of the harbor, we made a most unique discovery. There was quite a large population of bioluminescence in the water! We had inadvertently charged straight into Avatar. It was something completely out of this world. My words won’t do it justice, but I will try nonetheless.  It’s a very odd sensation to have every movement trailed by a wake of glowing green. The bioluminescence acts almost like it sticks to your body when you move, so waving your arm through the water gives the impression that you have several dozen very small, weak LEDs attached to you. As we swam, we also described it as having glow in the dark glitter everywhere.

It was truly a fantastic way to bring in the New Year. As I swam, I could feel some of the sadness leave me, and a little more hope seeped into my soul. Perhaps the concept of New Year’s doesn’t really have any significance, but the mentality that we bring to it can really turn things around. Nothing changed in my life between 11pm last night and 1am this morning. But my mind is little more hopeful and a lot more determined to leave behind the devastating events of the December.