Journal of a Living Lady #204

 

Nancy White Kelly

 

 

Ever wonder what an oxymoron was? Though it sounds like a moron on oxygen, it is actually joined, but contradictory words. Example:

 

Dead. Not a positive, encouraging utterance. Lifeless.

 

Sea. A body of water, teeming with innumerable organisms.  Active.

 

Dead Sea. An oxymoron.

 

The story of our adventure in the Holy Land continues as Buddy and I visit the infamous Dead Sea in Israel.  Two days earlier, Buddy and I left our breezy-cool home near the highest mountain in Georgia, Brasstown Bald, located 4784 feet above seal level. At the Dead Sea, we stood hot and sun-soaked at the lowest point on earth, 1320 feet below sea level. We had no desire to go any lower. Hell was not on our itinerary.

 

The Dead Sea is a one-of-a-kind body of water. The high salt content and concentration of 21 minerals enables anybody to float in its waters. It doesn’t permit the proliferation of fish and other marine life. Part of its uniqueness is that twelve of the minerals found in the Dead Sea are not found in any other sea or ocean.

 

I waded out to my knees. Chubby girls automatically float and I had nothing to prove. Buddy was so buoyant in the dense water that he had trouble keeping his rear submerged.

 

You wouldn’t expect to find a piece of angle iron arrogantly sticking up a few feet from the shore. Somehow Buddy managed to lose his footing and slide his toes into the metal strut. Walking was to become a miserable experience for him during the rest of our trip.

 

The signature element of the Dead Sea is the coal-black mud. It is a homogeneous mixture of Dead Sea minerals and organic elements from the shoreline. Indulging in a total, tar-black body wrap is believed to have both cosmetic and therapeutic benefits. If it would have eradicated cancer, I might have tried it. Most of the tourists did.

 

Buddy spread the thick mud on 50 percent of his body. Suddenly I was married to the most handsome, limping prince in the universe.

 

nancyk@alltel.net