Crossing the Line

I survived being a Pollywog and am now a graduate Shellback. Hooray!!!!!! We participated in the traditional Navy “Crossing the Line” initiation that they do only when they cross the Equator. It was crazy fun. The Shellbacks woke us up at 5:20am (keep in mind that we had turned our clocks ahead 1 hour the night before so we were on a 4:20am time clock) and then we had 3 minutes to get dressed before we had to get out of our berthing area. It was crazy. We spent a lot of time crawling on our hands and knees up stairs, across hallways and out onto the deck – envision a monsoon as we crawled outside and you'll get the drift. We were involved in a lot of push-ups and sit-ups and other calisthenics. I'm thinking it had been too long since I had done P90X. We were drenched with water from powerful fire hoses and other gooey stuff by was splattered upon us. Let's just say my face was super sticky from breakfast with no hands. I had taped OR towels to my knees before going out (remember I only had 3 minutes to dress) the towels did not last long as when went on our wet way – not enough duck tape! The whole thing lasted for 4 hours. I am exhausted! It was crazy fun and I'm so glad I got to be involved in the whole affair. I feel it was a once in a lifetime chance to go through this naval tradition and I'm glad I got to experience it. I'm thinking it is all about attitude and I'm determined to experience it all while I am here.