Morgan Ames and his son Morgan:
Fingers intertwined, I clenched his little hand in mine and nestled his right elbow in the crook of my left elbow, and, inhaling a deep breath, we dived beneath the waves with my fins kicking to propel us forward beneath the anchored, floating swim platform until he squeezed my hand to signal it was time to surface and breathe. That memory of my son Morgan’s first dive -- at age 4 -- the summer of 1980 at Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii is burned indelibly into my memory. Then, after ten years of snorkeling and skin diving with me, and observing me scuba diving with friends, he, too, earned his PADI Open Water Diver, and our father-son relationship developed an even deeper bond as dive buddies! The sequence of PADI courses at our local dive shop gave meaning contextually to his high school chemistry, physics and math courses – those courses that many students often wonder, “When am I ever going to use this stuff?” As the pages of his dive log filled, the discipline associated with the use of pre-dive checklists and diving – Plan Your Dive; then, Dive Your Plan -- reinforced important life skills as he gained additional Advanced OWD, Emergency First Responder/First Aid provider and Rescue Diver certifications. Retrospectively, I credit diving and his principal team sport of lacrosse, in which he played goalie, with much of his early development as a leader. His choice to seek a nomination and appointment to the United States Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, NY), where he was the varsity lacrosse team’s captain and record-setting NCAA goalie, his success as an engineering major in the classroom and his election of a career as a surface warfare officer in the United States Navy all stemmed from his application of mature decision-making, disciplined approach and consistent work effort – all of which were reinforced through scuba diving. From his early days of diving in northern Virginia quarries, diving and the U.S. Navy have taken him to dive locations many of us have only dreamed of – places like Montauk Point, NY; Virginia Beach, VA; the wrecks of “The graveyard of the Atlantic” off Morehead City, NC; the kelp beds of Monterey/Carmel/Point Lobos, CA; Bora Bora and Fiji; Caribbean islands; the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Crete; Red Sea dive sites; not to mention the world’s largest aquarium at Dubai and Florida’s fresh water springs. Not only does diving afford me opportunities to gift him dive gear at Christmas and birthdays but also diving together as dive buddies has deepened our father-son relationship, enriched our lives and still gives us something to look forward to whenever we get together. Over these past 32 years, diving has become one of his several passions as he adapted the adage to be “Plan Your Life; then, Live Your Plan!” These days, my son Morgan is not only a great scuba diver and a respected Navy commander, more importantly, he is an impressive man and a loving husband. I look forward eagerly to seeing where his career and diving take him, and hope to have the opportunity to share diving with him … and my grandchildren! Along with the joy of sharing diving with Morgan as my dive buddy, I have learned much from him. In our case, the pupil has, indeed, outstripped the master!
Fingers intertwined, I clenched his little hand in mine and nestled his right elbow in the crook of my left elbow, and, inhaling a deep breath, we dived beneath the waves with my fins kicking to propel us forward beneath the anchored, floating swim platform until he squeezed my hand to signal it was time to surface and breathe. That memory of my son Morgan’s first dive -- at age 4 -- the summer of 1980 at Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii is burned indelibly into my memory. Then, after ten years of snorkeling and skin diving with me, and observing me scuba diving with friends, he, too, earned his PADI Open Water Diver, and our father-son relationship developed an even deeper bond as dive buddies! The sequence of PADI courses at our local dive shop gave meaning contextually to his high school chemistry, physics and math courses – those courses that many students often wonder, “When am I ever going to use this stuff?” As the pages of his dive log filled, the discipline associated with the use of pre-dive checklists and diving – Plan Your Dive; then, Dive Your Plan -- reinforced important life skills as he gained additional Advanced OWD, Emergency First Responder/First Aid provider and Rescue Diver certifications. Retrospectively, I credit diving and his principal team sport of lacrosse, in which he played goalie, with much of his early development as a leader. His choice to seek a nomination and appointment to the United States Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, NY), where he was the varsity lacrosse team’s captain and record-setting NCAA goalie, his success as an engineering major in the classroom and his election of a career as a surface warfare officer in the United States Navy all stemmed from his application of mature decision-making, disciplined approach and consistent work effort – all of which were reinforced through scuba diving. From his early days of diving in northern Virginia quarries, diving and the U.S. Navy have taken him to dive locations many of us have only dreamed of – places like Montauk Point, NY; Virginia Beach, VA; the wrecks of “The graveyard of the Atlantic” off Morehead City, NC; the kelp beds of Monterey/Carmel/Point Lobos, CA; Bora Bora and Fiji; Caribbean islands; the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Crete; Red Sea dive sites; not to mention the world’s largest aquarium at Dubai and Florida’s fresh water springs. Not only does diving afford me opportunities to gift him dive gear at Christmas and birthdays but also diving together as dive buddies has deepened our father-son relationship, enriched our lives and still gives us something to look forward to whenever we get together. Over these past 32 years, diving has become one of his several passions as he adapted the adage to be “Plan Your Life; then, Live Your Plan!” These days, my son Morgan is not only a great scuba diver and a respected Navy commander, more importantly, he is an impressive man and a loving husband. I look forward eagerly to seeing where his career and diving take him, and hope to have the opportunity to share diving with him … and my grandchildren! Along with the joy of sharing diving with Morgan as my dive buddy, I have learned much from him. In our case, the pupil has, indeed, outstripped the master!