Perspective

After this past weekend my heart and outlook on life has changed. My friends and I decided to take a trip to Laguna beach. Little did we know what the day had in store for us. We all agreed that it would be fun to cliff jump into the ocean. So, we found a private beach that had a cliff that numerous people jumped off of. 

My wonderful friend Malik jumped off the cliff first and swam to shore. My other friend Courtney and I established that we wanted to jump off together, while my other friend Ashley recorded us from the shore. So we grabbed each other's hand and squeezed tightly as we ran off the cliff together and leaped into midair. The way down seemed so long and we screamed from the top of our lungs. Our bodies sharply hit the water. As we both came up for air we screamed, "that was so much fun!" and couldn't stop laughing. 

We were advised to swim sideways first and then eventually straight towards shore to avoid getting pulled back in. Unfortunately, that advice did not help because the water began to get stronger. Before we knew it, the waves were pulling us into an opposite direction from where we should have been going. Our friend Nathan was still on top of the cliff waiting to jump and we called out for help because the waves were too powerful for us to swim against. He jumped in after us and Malik came back into the water as well. They were no longer just strong waves, it was a current.

At this point, I have been captured and taken underwater too many times. Every time I came up for air, I would be hit with the monster known as the sea and involuntarily swallow gulps of salt water. My chest felt tight and heavy as I tried to stay afloat. I screamed, "Malik! I can't breathe! I'm tired!" and he tried to pull me back to shore. However, this did not work out whatsoever as the waves continued to haul us another direction. I felt as though I could not swim anymore. 

Eventually, the four of us were able to swim to some rocks below the cliff. I simply needed to cling onto something that could hold my weight as I caught my breath. Before I knew it, I heard Nathan scream, "Watch out! There's a wave!" and that was the last thing I heard before I was engulfed by the ocean and my body was thrown against the cliff. 

I felt myself tumbling under water and my body be flung and scraped against rough walls. In a matter of seconds I covered my head and thought to myself, "If I hit my head, I'm done." 

At last my body floated to air and I could hardly believe I was even in one piece. Regardless, I noticed that I was separated from my friends. My body had been shifted to the middle of the ocean, alone. At this point it was even more difficult to breathe due to all the water in my chest and I was so far from shore, and so beyond tired. I was sure those were my last moments on Earth. I thought, "there's no way of surviving this." There were no lifeguards and I felt my body giving up on me. I heard Courtney scream, "Annalise, I love you" because she also thought those were her last moments. 

As exhausted and frightened as I was, I wasn't ready to give up. I began screaming for help and I could hear my other friends crying for help as well, along with "Call 911!" 

A very kind gentleman climbed to the top of the cliff and threw me a boogie board to float on. It was an extremely strenuous swim over to it due to how weak I felt. Nonetheless, I finally reached it and my body was relieved. A dolphin inflatable was also thrown to Courtney, who was with the boys.

Shortly after, two lifeguards came running into the ocean and pulled us out. I found out later that Ashley, my friend recording us jumping off the cliff, was on shore running around trying to get help and locate lifeguards. It was a good thing she didn't jump with us, because ultimately her crying for help and prayers saved us.

Once on shore, I could barely stand up by myself due to how frail I was. My chest clenched and I continuously heaved. As I sat down my entire body was shaking and tears were streaming down my face. I began throwing up saltwater all over the beach sand. Every time I tried to grasp a water bottle I felt a sharp pain in my hands due to splinters stuck underneath my skin. My entire leg was bleeding from cuts and I am still so sore and in pain from this incident.

In the end, I thanked God for saving mine and my friend's lives. I spent my Sunday at church praising and expressing gratitude to God for watching over me. The more I thought about it, I was able to relate this experience to This Is Water by David Foster Wallace. For example, I would be the religious person in his speech believing in God and I believe that God helped me survive by sending over a lifeguard. On the contrary, any non-believer, let's take my boyfriend as an example, would probably believe I made it out alive simply because we were crying for help and eventually help came. I find it especially interesting how there can be so many various perspectives on a central idea. 

Nonetheless, I am very grateful to simply be alive and able to type this blog post in the first place.