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Our country's countless bodies of water have provided citizens with vast playgrounds for centuries. Whether it's a lake, river, or stream, the waterways have offered swimmers, skiers, boaters, and fishermen opportunities to forget about life for a while as they immerse themselves in the relaxing worlds of their hobbies. But it hasn't been that way for me throughout my lifetime.
Never having learned to swim, an underlying fear of water has haunted me since childhood. I do see the beauty and peacefulness as waves lap the shore, or as I watch the sun slowly set below the horizon from across a lake. I've even been out on occasional boat rides, but the fear remains.
That fear is most manifested in river crossings via a long, narrow bridge. It's not so much the bridge that bothers me, but the related factors that send chills down my spine. Few of the oncoming motorists share my fear, so they don't always pay as close attention to driving as they might. Then, there are the bridge railings that seem so low and close to the side of my car.
I have a mental list of a few bridges not to be traveled, and I won't hesitate to drive miles out of my way to avoid them. There are times, while driving an unfamiliar road, when I am surprised by the sudden appearance of a similar bridge, making it impossible to avoid. That's what happened on an otherwise beautiful sunny spring day that forever changed the course of my life.
The bend in the road came upon me quickly, leaving me little time to react. Stretched out before me was a half-mile-long narrow bridge with low guardrails on either side. A large delivery truck was heading toward me, taking his half of the road and then some. I felt the passenger side of my car scraping the guardrail just as the truck was within feet of my front bumper. In a moment of terror-filled panic, I instinctively cut the wheel to the right.
Hollywood action movies would depict what happened next in super slow-motion, which was exactly how it felt to me as my fate was sealed and I felt the car begin to flip. I don't know how far it was to the water's surface, but in the time it took to plunge into its depths, I saw my life pass before my eyes, thinking of my fear of heights and not knowing how to swim. Before hitting the water, I lost consciousness.
Whether it was the shock of the impact or the knowledge that I was sinking fast that brought me to my senses, I don't know. What I first remember about being underwater and freed from my car was how dark it was underwater. The water was muddy, and I was descending fast. All visibility was lost, and it seemed the end was at hand when it happened.
The blackness was beginning to lighten, and a sense of oxygen entering my deprived lungs left me with the feeling that my luck was changing, or that this was the end. The water was fast becoming as bright as you'd see in a swimming pool, and equally clean. Unable to explain what I thought my eyes were seeing, I assumed what awaited me was surely Heaven - or Hell. Spiraling toward my fate, I was resigned to face whatever lay ahead as bravely as possible.
By now, my body was being pulled by an unseen force toward the ever-brightening abyss. What I thought I saw was utterly impossible, yet there it was, and I would soon be a part of it.
Logic told me that men cannot walk on the bottom of a 600-foot lake without special suits and breathing apparatus, but a large number of clearly human men and women seemed to be walking as freely as if on a walk in a park. A group of four of these men seemed to be awaiting my arrival expectantly.
Although we were assuredly surrounded by water, these men spoke clearly without the expected air bubbles escaping their mouths. As startling as that realization was, it was more startling to find that I could do the same.
"Who are you and what am I doing here?" were my first questions.
"Welcome to Atlantis!" the man who appeared to be the leader exclaimed.
With that declaration, I knew I must be safe in bed and deeply involved in some bizarre dream. All that was left for me was to ride it out and see where it led.
"I am Atlas," he continued. "This is my father, Poseidon."
Although I was certainly staring open-mouthed after this introduction by the leaders of the lost world of Atlantis, he went on to say, "We've been expecting you, Mr. Johnson. Won't you join us at a dinner in your honor?"
What was I to do but follow, while hopefully learning what this was all about? What did he say? Were they expecting me?
"You have been chosen to become one of us. Come and meet your bride," were the words that stunned me to no end. Marriage wasn't in my plans in the best of situations, but here I was in an unknown world, being led to my marriage feast!
In answer to the questioning look on my face, Atlas explained. "My mother was a woman from above the surface. As she was called to be my father's wife, you have now been called to be a husband and father here below."
Now, not only was I to marry an unseen woman, but I was also to parent children with her. This was too much! "This is all very gracious of you, Sir, but also much too sudden to comprehend", I reasoned.
Until now, silent Poseidon has stepped in to assert his authority: "We are not proposing for your consideration, Mr. Johnson. It shall be as we have decreed!"
With this all sounding so final, I followed them into the dining hall to be introduced as the guest of honor and to meet my future wife. While I entered the room without any preconceived notions of what the girl might look like, I couldn't have painted a more beautiful image than the one who stood before me and was introduced as my soon-to-be wife. Life in this underwater world might not be so bad after all!
Since I have no recollection of any events from that moment, it's hard to say what happened from then on. I might have chalked it up to a very detailed dream, but I've never been a dreamer. And then there's that deep gash on my right forearm - although it never bled a drop. What is going on?
Newspaper reports indicated the body could not be found in the deep, dark recesses of the lake's murky waters. Divers had repeatedly been turned back in their attempts. I was declared a traffic fatality due to drowning. It had always been an inexplicable ability of mine to see things others can't.