Hello. I'm Daniel Gardner. My story today was a few years ago in a car. I look out the window from the back seat and see a beautiful blue sky with pearly white clouds scattered across the sky like dice. The sun shines in the sky like a beacon of hope. It reflects on the sand as if radiating from glass. The lush variety of green grass with the abundant palm trees gently sway with the breeze. The light turns green and we begin to fly over everything as if time were speeding up. we pull into the driveway and don't see a beach house. But a villa. We walk in and see the decor of the house as if the angels had passed by and done it themselves. We were finally on holiday. One day while we were on vacation, my dad decides to do a group activity and rent ocean canoes from some kind of surf shop just a couple miles away. My father and mother, my brothers and sister, the family of one of my brothers with his wife and two children and me. let's all pack our bags and go to the beach. One street later we arrive. the tide was high and unusually high, so it swooped sideways and pooled in a makeshift pond it created in the center of the beach head. So to try them out and get a feel for them, we all paddle around this little makeshift pond for about an hour. After we finished, we decided to take one for a spin. My brother with his family and the third eldest went first. An hour passed and they returned. Then it was my father's and my turn. We start heading towards the big blue open. about a half mile out my dad sees some big waves and says we were going to jump in and have fun. In about 15 minutes we hit the waves, but there was a problem. The waves were MUCH BIGGER than he thought. What he thought... middle of paper... the strength completely fails and he lets go and begins to drown and sink. not to save him but to continue rowing and get to safety. I hold back the tears with fire and brimstone and start paddling like the devil is behind me even though I feel drained too. After about another hour it seems like we're starting to get closer and my dad feels the sand brush against his feet. We both breathed a huge sigh of relief when my dad finally hit rock bottom. being still about a quarter of a mile from shore we do a sort of “island hopping” with the sand patches and head back the way we came. Once we get back we decide there's enough beach for the day and head home. Feeling victorious and defeated at the same time I still have a scar inside me. and inside that scar is a little black hole inside me that's afraid of the ocean. And to this day I fear that I will be afraid forever.