Happy New Year!

My aunt, my mother's sister, was dared to join a Polar Bear Dip in exchange for $200 donated to a charity of her choice.  My aunt, kindly, and oh so thoughtfully, invited me to join her.  My aunt is 65 and since I always like a friend to go with me I said, "Sure.  Why not?"

Of course, I figured that I would need financial incentive as well so I invited all my facebook friends (feel free to join in) to donate to the Children's Miracle Network in memory of my nephew Rayden League.

New Year's came and I braced myself:

• swimsuit - check.
  
• towel -  check.
• five layers of clothes -  check, check, check, check, check!
• two sets of little hotties hand warmers (one for hands, one for toes)- check and check.
  
• hot chocolate - damn forgot that.
• armload of wood for the fire - double damn.

But take the plunge I did.

 There's something wonderfully wild and crazy about lining up with like-minded insane people to plunge into the ocean when the ambient temperature is a balmy 23 degrees Fahrenheit.  My aunt was the first one in the water and I followed her lead; when she dove, I dove.

The wonderful thing about plunging into such cold water is that 23 degrees suddenly feels like a warm summer day.  Then every thing becomes tingly and I could literally feel every pore on my skin.  I felt energetic. I COULD CONQUER THE WORLD!!!

Then the adrenaline stopped, my body decided that I was NOT in an emergent situation and that it didn't need to worry and should leave me to my own stupidity.

I got cold.

I must say, though, that the hand warmers on my toes, inside my wool socks, were the most perfect thing and the best idea I had the whole day.  That and the grande hot chocolate from a local coffee shack.

When I got home, I slept the afternoon away.

Shocking, I know.

But in the end, for only about 2 minutes of work and a few hours of cold, I managed to raise $76+.  (You could make it more....)

I'm thinking this could be a new tradition.

**PS - do you see how big my chest looks?  Holy big bosoms batman!