Recently, I've begun taking full advantage of my mornings -and boss' willingness to look the other way- by coming into work anywhere from a half an hour to two hours late. During these extra hours I read, exercise, cook and eat breakfast for as long as I can. Yesterday, during my morning procrastination session, I picked up a newly-purchased book called Grayson by world-record breaking swimmer, and author, Lynne Cox.
I had never heard of Lynne Cox, or any of her books or world records, but something about this cover made me buy it. I initially wasn't going to read this book yesterday, but it was short (153 pages) and looked like it would be easy to read. Grayson ended up being the first book I've ever read from beginning to end completely uninterrupted.
Grayson is autobiographical, but it reveals only about 3 or 4 hours of Lynne Cox's life. When she was 17 and an already accomplished swimmer, she was out for her usual morning three-mile swim off the coast of California and encountered a baby whale. It quickly became evident to Cox that the whale was motherless. What follows is the search and struggle to find the whale's mother.
To be honest, reading Grayson was like watching a PG movie. The big smiling, cartoon whale on the book cover makes it clear from the beginning that Grayson is no tragedy. However, as both Cox and Grayson struggle to stay afloat in choppy waters a mile and a half off shore, you can't help but get caught up in the drama. Grayson is not about a whale finding it's mother, it's about the energy and attitudes that connect all living things, even different species, despite language barriers, cultural differences or physical challenges.
The other really captivating aspect of this book is Cox's descriptions of the animal life beneath the surface of the ocean. As Cox gets washed further and further from shore, she acts as a tour guide to the oceanic metropolis that is just too far off shore for casual swimmers to be familiar with. She encounters sea turtles, jellyfish, dolphins, tuna and plenty of other fish I had never hear of. Each encounter adds an element of wonder and drama to whole story.
Part (I think) of why I really enjoyed Grayson was because I read it in almost real time. The story begins at some point between 5 and 6am, (I started reading at 6:30am) and ends approximately at 10am (I finished the book by 8:30). As the sun was coming up in the book, so it also was from where I was reading it. I highly recommend trying to do the same. I felt it added a sense of reality, like it was all actually happening while I was reading, ala Never Ending Story.
I thought I'd end with these lines from the book which occur right before Cox decides to journey farther out into the ocean to help look for the baby whale's mother:
"Many people are happy with things as they are. They are comfortable with what they already know. But if I didn't move outside my comfort level, how would I ever experience anything new, how would I ever learn, or see or explore? I believe that each of us has a purpose for being here, that we have certain gifts and certain challenges we need to learn from and fulfill for our lives to have meaning and richness."
"I'm going to swim with him"
It's not at all eloquent, but right on!
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