Update/Near Life & Death Story

We have not posted for a while so here is what we have been up to lately. I finished my second year of law school - I have got a few of my grades back and have not failed any classes so far. Aimee is almost finished with her second full year of teaching - the students have already taken the SOL and the teachers are just counting down the days until summer. The students this year have behaved a lot better than last year but there are still a few problem kids. I don't know any of their names, I only them as know as "the big kid" or other such names.

Aimee is planning on studying for and taking the Math Subject GRE this summer and I am working again at the National Association for Biomedical Research (it is a lobbying firm in DC) - It is amazing how much more time I have on my hands now that I am on summer break and only working full time.

I finished school before the Memorial day break and so we decided to head down to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina (we also went to Kure Beach in North Carolina). The weather was really nice and the water was really warm. Any of you who know me well will remember that I am not a great swimmer. When we went out into the ocean at Kure Beach (the first day) the waves were really big so we didn't go out very far, but on the second day we went to Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach is a really commercial beach but it is also a really nice beach. The sand is packed a lot better than at some beaches making it easier to walk on and the slope going into the ocean is really gentle so you can go out quite a distance before the water gets very deep.

We put on sunscreen then decided to go into the ocean - it subsequently washed off and we both got sun burns. We went out to the point where the water was about chest deep - which is the point where the waves will pick you up and push you to the shore. We went out a couple times throughout the afternoon but on the last time out the tides were beginning to come in. We went out to the same spot where we were before and were enjoying ourselves in the water when we suddenly realized the water was a lot deeper than it had been a few minutes ago. We turned around and looked at the shore and it also looked a lot further away than it had earlier. At that moment a strong wave came and crashed on top of us. When my head popped back up above the water my feet were no longer touching the bottom. We both began to swim to get out of the water and back to the shore. Aimee turned on her back started washing in with the waves but I tried to swim forward to get out. As I swam waves kept coming over the top of me, water kept coming into my mouth and I was not making any progress towards the shore. At this point panic struck and I started getting seriously worried that I was not going to be able to reach the shore. Finally after several minutes of struggling and making no progress I heard Aimee yell to me telling me to float on my back and relax. As always, when Aimee tells me to do something I immediately obey, and started making progress. Finally we both made it to the shore and noticed life guards looking intently out into the ocean watching for people who were in similar situations. Once safe on the land I began to feel better all execpt for all the seawater I swallowed - which gave me a sick stomach. Other than that there is not that much to tell but we were both glad we made it out safely!

Here are some pictures of the things we have been doing lately:

Here we are at Kure Beach.

This is Myrtle Beach - there were a ton of people there.

We also went to the Airlie gardens, which were pretty.

We thought these chairs were pretty cool.

Notice the Mad Photoshopping skills!

Aimee built this new headboard from scratch!

We celebrated both of our birthdays.

We found a new favorite frozen yougart place.

We went and saw Wicked - they turned the fountain at the Chrysler Center green!

It has been fun lately!