Living the Metaphor

The other day, the same day that Driving By Braille received runner up for Best Picture, and won for Best Produced Screenplay and Kristina Lloyd won for Best Female Filmmaker, I jumped off a seven meter diving platform.  No, I wasn’t stressed about winning.  I just had decided to start a diving class earlier in the month.

On the first day of diving class I convinced myself, with encouragement from the coach and prodding from my daughter, to jump off the 5 meter platform.  I did it, but it was scary.  I didn’t so much jump as kind of stepped off.   This week, I was told to jump off the 5 meter, and I did.  I was still scared, but more confident. I could jump, I didn’t need to step.  Then the coach said to go off the seven meter.  I climbed up the stairs, and was surprised that the view from the seven is just about the same as the view from the five, until you get to the edge and look down.  The little wavelets in the pool look  smaller.  Yet,  I assumed the proper jumping position – arms over head, feet together, toes at the edge of the platform.  I raised my heels, put them back down.  Steadied my breath, raised my heels again, then proceeded to exhale slowly all the way with my eyes on the horizon.  I took a big inhale, pushed up and jumped.

It takes less than a second longer to reach the water from the 7 than it does from the 5M.  You can’t wait to get to the water, even though that’s what would hurt the most if you enter wrong.  It is thrilling to get enveloped by the water.  And the whole process is exhausting.  That day I did the five meter twice, the seven meter twice, dove head first  for the first time off the three meter board, and dove for the first time backwards off the one meter board (both multiple times by the way).  By the time I had to go to get the awards I was exhausted.  Yet I realized that I wasn’t just writing or producing the metaphor, I was living the metaphor.