Eight days later, I learned how to breathe water. I thought it’d be another amazing feat, one with mystery and intensity…

Eventually, it just kinda hapened. Hours at the lake paid off…but, again, with disappointment.

I inhaled through the snorkel pipe a few times, then mentally fooled myself to breathe again without it. Then…it kinda happened.

But again, I was met with disappointment. I just sat, yogi-style, underwater, looking…into nothing. The muddy lake cast swirling mud in front – and into – my eyes. I could see nothing. I felt cold and uncomfortable, and my bathing suit was filled with silt by now. I sloshed out of the lake, water dripping from my bathing suit, and walked away, disgusted by the experience.