Random Facts Writing

A recent assignment in my second session of Creative Writing was to pick a random fact from a list of 31 facts we were given. Once your fact was chosen you were to include it in your writing. For me, this exercise posed a few questions: how long should this be? What exactly am I supposed to write about - fact or fiction? In the end, the writing was short & true.

Read on...

I look out over the balcony to the clear water and can see the reef below. Before coming to Belize, I had never seen such clear water--a clarity that reigns in the Caribbean. Pristine waters, sandy beaches, hammocks in the shade of palm trees all seem to be trademarks of the Caribbean islands. Every vista is postcard perfect.

Back home, the bluish-brown expanse offered little hope for glimpses of the teeming underwater world below. During the many visits to the beach in my youth, I believed this was the way of all large bodies of water. Certainly none could be clear enough to see to the ocean floor! The massive amount of sea life, areas of pollution and typical changes in the weather patterns that affect the currents make it a logical conclusion that ocean water would be churned to a murky shade.

Then I took my first trip to the Caribbean.

Was it the color, the temperature, the vibe of the tropics or crystal blue water that struck me the most? They say the color blue has a calming effect, that it causes your brain to release calming hormones. If that's true, I can understand the laid back mentality of the islands. Blue is all around you--in the sky, the water & the colorful buildings. It's more than a fleeting feeling of relaxation; it's a blanket that envelopes you, shifting your attitude and mood.

I imagine waking every day to find the blue once again greeting me with its soothing effects. It would be a world with little stress and nothing that couldn't be fixed with a journey to look into the depths of the clear sea. Envisioning a world below the water's surface and how peaceful the creatures must live in the blue, day after day, would be enough to transport me to another mind-set.