quicksand

This is a picture of me at one of my favorite areas to swim and wade down in Miami, Florida.   At least it was until one day I got into some quicksand.   Actually, I prefer to think of it as quickmuck because you sink slower than in quicksand but the more that you struggle the faster you sink.  There is probably an underground spring pushing water up through the sand and muck making it a little thinner.   I got stuck in this stuff when I was by myself and I was stuck but good.   But fortunately there was a wooden cable spool just to the left of the picture which I managed to get to with great difficulty, climbed up on and rested.   As cars drove by I yelled and waved for help.   They couldn’t hear me and they just smiled and waved back, not realizing that I was in trouble.   I was about 12 feet from the road.  I crouched down, summoned all my strength, and leaped with everything that I had and must have leaped six to eight feet.   When I landed I was close enough to make it to the road.   What a harrowing experience.   I told my friends about what had happened but no one believed me.   This was frustrating so what did a bright young college boy do?   Yep, returned to the spot and wandered back out into this stuff and had my picture taken as proof.   But this time I had a rope which was tied to the bumper of the car which I used to pull myself out.   Plus I had my religious medal (scapular) on for extra help.   Yeah, it really wasn’t a smart thing to do but I was young then.   Let’s see, I was born in 1942 and the date on the picture is 1961, so that would make me 19 at the time.   No, no, no, don’t figure my current age or I will never tell my birth year again.   But how did I ever manage to live to 2011 doing dumb things like that.   And also, was I ever really that thin?   Boy, those were the days.   Isn’t there a song called Those Were the Days?    After this experience I didn’t visit this wading area as often and definitely avoided this area when I did.   Have a nice day.   Lew