What I Learned on Summer Vacation

The Caribbean Sea is crystal blue and bath-temp warm when a pair of sharks turn toward me. And that is when I learned it is possible to screech underwater through a snorkel mask.

Never mind my new buddies were nurse sharks, slow-moving bottom-dwellers that are largely considered harmless to people if not provoked. Never mind that before this trip I had watched plenty of videos of snorkelers swimming fins to fins with nurse shark schools.

But I’ve seen Shark Week and Sharknado. When a shark is staring you down and swimming toward you, snorkel screech seems reasonable. After a few minutes, the initial survival instincts tamped down, for better or worse, and it was back to casually swimming with sharks.

Reasonable is relative of course.

My oldest responded by admonishing me underwater with hand gestures to turn my spirit fingers into balled fists (apparently while not threatening, nurse sharks in these popular reef spots will investigate waggling hands thinking that you’re offering food, at least according to our boat guide for the day).

My youngest responded with a big, fat nope and high-tailed it back to the boat – also a reasonable response. She’s not wrong, even though nurse sharks aren’t considered aggressive there have been recorded attacks. The six-year-old might have been the smartest among us.

So here’s what I learned on my summer vacation.

• You never know how you’ll respond to unfamiliar situations and external changes (until you’re snorkel deep in them).
• Doing your homework ahead of time doesn’t hurt. (A nurse shark is very different than a tiger shark.)
• Sometimes it’s ok to jump in. (unless it’s one of those times in hindsight you realize it wasn’t.)

At some point, after all the research, you have to make a decision and jump or not jump.

This holds true for many of the women in this issue of WILMA, especially since it’s our annual awards issue.

All of the thirty-six awards finalists being honored this year and highlighted in our awards section have found themselves at decision points throughout their career. Some of those choices panned out; others needed adjustments, but the common thing among them was deciding to step out and do something new.

Amanda Cassella did the same, opening Wandering Cone Creamery after working in corporate America and traveling with her family across the U.S. in their RV.

Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage President Denise Kinney came to her crossroads after switching careers and then propelling upward in the local real estate industry.

Those are just a couple of examples of a new WILMA issue full of women jumping in and charting their own courses.