Birthday GIft

Today is my birthday and I got the most unusual and spectacular gift. Mervin came by this afternoon to tell me to come to the beach for a surprise. I expected my passport or a coconut with a candle in it. The last thing I expected to see was my boat!

My boat didn’t look the same, as it was deflated and had been cut open. Apparently, my boat had been found on St John’s (a US Virgin Island that is nearby). It had deflated and turned into something that resembles a Ziploc bag, protecting most of my possessions. Some tourists found it. When they cut it open, they found my passport. Apparently, they found it about a month ago, but it took me going to the passport office last week for them to locate me, especially since I have been renamed Dolphina by everyone on Tortola.

When Mervin went into the office to validate me, they gave him the boat to return to me.

Here I was looking at all my belongings. Old belongings. My tent was gone, of course. There was my saxaphone, lotions, clothes, moldy books, my rusty lantern and my journal!!  I think I was most excited to have the memories in my journal. But most important, if this all wasn’t so incredible already, my money was all there – in a waterproof sailing envelope on page 107 of Walden, the chapter entitled, “Visitors”. It was money to true freedom and liberation of my mind!

More than excited, I was tripping. It was so surreal to see all these items that once were on the floor of my brownstone in NYC. Looking at them reminded me of the boating accident, my near-death experience and the dolphins. The fact that this was returned to me on my birthday did not escape my notice. I know this sounds crazy, but couldn’t help but feel that the dolphins were sending me a gift. I was touched profoundly.

I carried all these items back to my tepee. I thought non-stop about the dolphins that had rescued me. Why did they rescue me? How did they know I was drowning? I had many questions such as these, but I also felt an unexplainable cosmic connection. I felt like they were reaching out to me and trying to communicate with me. I wanted to contact them.

I thought about how they speak with each other and how they talked to me. I couldn’t help but wonder, “What the hell are you talking about?” I seriously felt like maybe I was going a bit bananas. What I was thinking wasn’t making any sense.

It was finally sinking in that I nearly died and I do think it is appropriate that I would feel gratitude for the beings that saved me, but contacting them? How in the world was that even possible?  This was bizarre and teetering on the unknown.  How in actuality could I communicate with the dolphins? How could I thank them for saving my life? I had no idea, but I knew I needed to, as I have never been sure of anything before in my life.