I’m taking a couple of classes in the Lifetime Learning program at Baylor, designed for senior adults to keep our minds sharp, or sharper. I’ve finished the “Daughters of WWII Vets” series, and now am enjoying “The Oceans in a Changing Climate System.” I signed up for this one because, well, because the teacher for the series is a friend from church, an Assistant Professor in the Geosciences Department at Baylor. And, I really enjoyed an Oceanography class I took in college.

That Oceanography class was one of the most interesting science classes I’ve ever taken. The class was a large one, filling up a very large classroom. One of the requirements for the class was for us to visit the Oceanography center, which was on a small island in the middle of a bay on the windward side of Oahu. The lab class was offered every Saturday and Sunday during the semester, and we had to sign up for just one day, and we would spent most of the day there. “Bring a sack lunch,” they said. “Wear clothes that you don’t mind getting wet. And be sure to wear sturdy shoes that you also don’t mind getting wet.”

David drove me over to the meeting place. I found a student who was in my History Lab class, so I had a friend to chat with and work with.  A large barge sort of thing chugged over to pick us up, and then chugged it’s way back across to that small island. We did some experiments, we listened to a lecture, we rode on that barge, which had a large, small-holed net attached to the rear. Then we brought up all the small fauna that had gotten trapped in the net. We carefully looked at the bay’s sea life, and then released them back into the water, I guess so that the next group of students could find them, too.

At one point, we were given, in pairs, a “Look Box.” The box was made of four pieces of wood, each about a foot square, and painted white. There were cut-out hand holds at the tops of two of the pieces. And there was a piece of clear plastic attached at the bottom of the box. That part of the bay was shallow, and when we held the box down in the water, we could easily see what was growing and living on the bay’s floor.

As I took my turn with the box, it was like wearing a giant pair of goggles. I was carefully walking, a few steps at a time. And then, I stepped on the edge of a piece of coral. My foot slipped off, and my ankle bone scraped against that coral. I looked down through the box and saw a trail of blood, drifting from my ankle bone. And, just as I was looking at the blood, the teacher said, “And, in the spring, sharks come into the bay here to spawn.”

It was fall, so I didn’t really have anything to worry about, and, of course, the water in which we were walking wasn’t nearly deep enough for sharks. But, it was a bit unnerving.

We returned to the island and had a break before the next project. We’d been told that there was a First Aid area, if we needed something, so my friend and I walked around until we found the First Aid place. The nurse who was there took one look at my bloody foot and fussed, angrily, at me. “You were supposed to wear shoes,” she said frowning.

That’s how bloody my foot was. The nurse didn’t even realize that I had my shoe on.

Once we cleared that up, she did clean the cut, which really was pretty small, and put on a Band-Aid, or two, so my ankle looked okay. My shoe did not.

Eventually, it was time to get back on that barge one last time, and putt-putt our way back to Oahu. David was waiting there, and did notice the shoe. Hard to miss.

Back at home, he took off the nurse’s Band-Aid, and did a more thorough job of cleaning out the slit. Everything healed up, and no one had to amputate my foot.

But, I thoroughly enjoyed my Oceanography class. I even thought, for just a moment, that I might could change my major to Oceanography. Since I had only my student teaching to complete, and one more History class, it didn’t seem all that realistic.

You alone are the Lord, Creator of the heavens and all the stars, Creator of the earth and those who live on it, Creator of the ocean and all its creatures. You are the source of life, praised by the stars that fill the heavens.

Nehemiah 9:6 (Contemporary English Version)

Different states have different degree plans for majors. At Baylor, I got to skip one science class because I had a good science test score (Biology) on my SAT. And, I chose Western Civ. to fulfill my history requirement. At University of Hawaii, I needed an additional science, and it was that amazing Oceanography class. And, Western Civ. wasn’t going to be enough. I could choose between Eastern Civ. and World Civ. I went with World. All these classes had a section I and a section II. And, we had History Labs, because our class met in (and I’m not making this up) Varsity Theater. I had read that on the university’s class schedule. I was astonished to see that Varsity Theater was actually a movie theater. And, the theater’s owners were savvy enough to open up the snack counter and to operate the popcorn machine. The class met at 11:00 a.m. and many students would have been in a couple of classes before this one, and would be hungry. The professor let us go at 15 ’til the hour. I always arrived early enough to get the end seat of the last row, because this was my first class of the day, and I had to walk uphill and across campus to get to my next class.

And, we had History Labs, because, in a movie theater, there’s not much space for asking questions, and it’s certainly not a venue for testing. So, each History Lab had a Teaching Assistant for discussions and taking tests, and 20 or 30 students.