Marjorie should not let me go out by myself.  I succumbed to a big temptation yesterday.  If she had been with me she could have stabilized me.  She has always been a big stabilizing influence in my life.  As it is, she frowned at me when I told her what I’d done.

We ran out of oatmeal, so I made a quick, early run downtown to the only store that carries it so that I could have my breakfast.  Tragically, I found that they’d run out!  I’m going to starve.  But there was a man there who had just arrived, and he was spreading out his collection of sea shells on a piece of cloth on the sidewalk so that he could sell them.  They were gorgeous!  I’ve never seen anything like them.  I stopped to visit with him.  I asked where he’d found such perfect shells.  He said, “I dive for them.”

“How old are you?”

“70.”

“How long can you hold your breath when you’re diving?”

“Maybe 30 minutes.  Maybe 15,...20,...yes, 30 minutes.”

His 40-plus son was there, too, and confirmed that they both could do that.

I came home with 4 sea shells.  They’re beautiful!  I managed to pass up the big ones, but I spent $100!  Looking back, I can’t believe I did that.  Sin is like that, isn’t it?  You act on impulse, and then you regret it afterward.

Except that maybe I really don’t regret it.  These are mighty pretty shells, but were they really worth $100?  They’ll make a really good visual aid someday when I’m giving a lesson on the effects of sin.

I’m dying to be able to watch this man dive, but he lives on Malo, two islands away.  He came here to sell his wares because a cruise ship pulled in that morning.  The street downtown was filled with Australians yesterday.  I got Peter’s contact number, but I’ll never be able to see him dive.  We’re fast friends after our visit, though.  He even jumped up and kissed me on both cheeks.  Normally it’s only the women here who do that, but I got to experience all the stubble on his chin.