First Depression

The first time I was depressed occurred when I was in college. I had been seriously dating a woman for nearly 2 1/2 years when she ended the relationship. I started doing dumb things like dating people I didn't really care about just to show her it didn't matter, etc. But I was in total denial about the effect the breakup had on me.

The summer after, I wound up in Santa Barbara, CA studying marine biology at the university. One night I had decided that it just wasn't worth trying any more and bought a gallon of cheap wine. I intended to drink the whole thing and if I lived through it, it would be a sign that MAYBE I should keep trying. At the time I was sharing an apartment with 5 other people. All of us were there for the marine biology program and threw in together. It was the sixties and I'll leave it to your imagination what it was like there in the evenings.

Less than one fourth of the way through the bottle an attractive woman my age showed up and started talking to me. I had never seen her before but everyone else seemed to know her. We talked and I kept drinking. I had already told her about my intentions for the gallon of wine. We had been talking for a bit and I had probably gotten through about a third of the gallon when she suggested that we go for a walk on the beach. Sure, I said, but she would NOT let me bring my wine with me. So, we set out to the beach.

It was a very dark night, but there was a plankton bloom going on and you could clearly make out the waves because the disturbance caused the plankton to flouresce in this bright blue-green color. It was really cool!

All of a sudden she said she wanted to go swimming and see if the plankton would flouresce around her. So, she ripped off all of her clothes (it was the sixties) and ran and dove into the water. I could follow her by the flourescent trail she left behind. I had to try that! Ripped off my clothes and ran and dove in. I had my hands out in front of me and it was amazing how the flourescence lit up my hands and arms as I slid through the dark water.

I popped up immediately next to my companion. Her skin still had some sparkly spots from the plankton. I guess I did too. Both of us reached out at almost the same time to touch each other's skin only to discover that as we caressed each other's skin we left a glowing blue-green trail behind. Have you ever seen a breast glow blue-green in the dark? Have you ever seen a very hard penis glow blue-green in the dark? We wound up making a great deal of flourescence on the beach. I no longer felt depressed, I didn't touch the bottle of wine when I returned to my apartment. I never saw her again. Is this why stories of angels begin?