I've always had more friends that were girls than boys.
But as far as meeting strangers go, I felt more comfortable talking to guys than I do with girls. I grew up with three older sisters, and I thought to myself, I don't really know what it's like to be a man.
I wanted to experience a brotherhood
So I volunteered to be part of the submarine community for the United States Navy. I dreamt of being stationed on fast attack submarines that go on badass missions in the Pacific coast, however, as far as dreams go, they're not real in the Navy. I was stationed in Washington to be part of the patrolling strategic deterrent that makes our government feel like they have all the Queen pieces in the underwater chess game.
Seattle was across the sound and very exciting for me to spend hard earned time off.
My two hometown friends came to visit me from California, and we took a stroll all over town. I really loved the vibe of the flower market down at the pier, and I decided to playfully tell my best friend that I wanted to give flowers to a stranger.
She held me accountable by buying me a bouquet and told me to get on with it.
It was nerve wrecking.
I smiled, and I offered to give my flowers to random people, both men and women. Nobody wanted my flowers. They kept rejecting me, and it was almost hopeless until my friend pointed at a gal and told me to try giving my flowers to her.
I looked at her and I felt like the freshman Asian kid trying to ask the senior cheerleader to prom. I think I forgot my English for a sec while my brain was processing whether I should do this and how do I even go about doing it. (Mind you I lived in a submarine full of bromance and it's been a while since a pretty lady laid her gaze upon me)
I walked up to her and told her that I wanted to give my flowers to her to wish her a happy day. She smiled, and thanked me for the flowers. A few seconds of eye contact felt like minutes and then all of a sudden life just moved on.
I walked back to my friends standing a bit taller, like my mission accomplished. I did it. I stepped out of my comfort zone and my bravery leveled up.
Scary things when faced full on makes them less powerful the next time you decide to encounter it.
I decided to write my stories in a way that my memories are without timestamps. They are quite precious to me, and when I felt like writing about bravery, this story came up while I looked at my old photography. Writing this for you all made me feel the thrill and excitement of that memory like it just happened. I hope you all enjoy my little story about my step for courage :)
All photos were taken with my Nikon D60 :)
Another great post!
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Awesome! Thank you for your nomination! I'm glad you enjoyed my content :)
Aw, great story! Thank you for sharing you story of courage. It can be really hard to talk to strangers, especially those we are attracted to, but I'm glad you had friends to support you and encourage you, and that you persevered until your mission was complete. I hope this helped to lessen the fears for you. There is no shame is giving and spreading our love! (As long as we don't hurt anyone else in the process) I would have loved to receive your flowers!
It was a great memory to relive while telling my story. I've grown heaps and bounds since then, people only sometimes scare me now! :)
Keyport isn't such a bad duty station... I love the Pike Place Market. My neighbor here is near retirement, but has a shop there. He spends 6 months in each place.
What a wonderful story. Bravery and chivalry all wrapped up in one neat package.
After a while it wasn't so bad, my friends in Norfolk probably couldn't say the same. Although I spent most of my time on my sub, I'm grateful that getting home was rarely ever stuck in traffic. Thank you for stopping by! I'm happy you enjoyed my story :)
The more I read of you the more I recognize our similarities. High five for your bravery dude, chicks can be more intimidating than death ;)
The less processing the better <3
Haha yes. After meeting many people it's not so scary anymore. :)
Yes! Tiny steps out of the comfort zone until you feel so much at home on the road it becomes second nature.
Inspiring as always
Life is different, look at talking of not knowing what it means to live with guys, and me at this end trying to figure out what it means to have just a sister around,,, irony of life.....great post.
I guess we will always be curious about what we never experienced. Having sisters taught me that girls are scary when they are teenagers. Being around adult men in a sub taught me that you could be a grown ass man and still behave like a thirteen year old. :P Sometimes after looking at both sides, the irony of life still has me puzzled. :P
Lovely story😄,Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently. Nice one