It was the perfect day. The Florida sunshine warmed both my body and my soul.

Not being the beach lover I am, my son had chosen to stay at home. That was fine with me. I had the whole day to spend any way I wanted and what I wanted was to leisurely travel up the Gulf Coast, visiting beaches I’d never seen before. My life was about to change and I wanted to soak in as much as I could of the state that I loved while still having the opportunity.

I began my morning on St. Petersburg Beach at the southernmost point of my day’s adventure.  After an hour or so of admiring the beautiful blue skyline and the spectacular view on both sides of the aptly named Sunshine Skyline Bridge which spans Lower Tampa Bay to connect St. Petersburg to Terra Ceia, I meandered north past Indian Rocks Beach and Clearwater Beach, up to Honeymoon Island. That’s where the shorts and tank top came off.

The water was both soothingly warm and refreshing. I lay on my air mattress just off the beach, letting the gentle waves take me where they wanted. Only occasionally did I open my eyes to make sure I wasn’t drifting out too far. I could have fallen asleep had I not kept sneaking peeks at the beautiful scenery around me.

It was during one such peek when two dorsal fins off to the right and towards the bay caught my eye. They were silently swimming parallel to shore a few yards from me when I spotted them. I froze. Their light gray backs glimmered in the lapping of the waves and I was both awestruck with wonder and frightened at their proximity.

Carefully slipping my air mattress between them and me (yeah, like that’s really going to help), I headed for shore. As a Floridian, I knew better than to frantically swim. Churning water excites sharks, reminding them of injured fish ripe for the picking. I also knew enough not to jump on my air mattress and paddle. I would then resemble a turtle and sharks love turtles. Becoming a tasty afternoon snack was exactly what I was trying to avoid.

In the split second I had to decide my best course of action, I knew the safest thing to do would be to quietly slide back onto my air mattress with limbs aboard, and lie absolutely still. I also knew I couldn’t do it.

So, I continued walking sideways toward the shore as calmly as possible, with my mattress close beside me. Noticing my movement, my two unwanted guests changed direction and headed directly for me. I cried out, “God protect me! God protect me! God protect me!”

Not more than a body’s length from me at that point, I thought, There go my legs. It was nice having them. I’ll miss them dearly.

Then, just as quickly as a moment earlier, the would-be predators changed course and headed north.

As they left me in their wake, I realized with regret that they weren’t sharks after all, but dolphins! I had it within my reach to touch them and because of fear, I missed a once-in-a-lifetime experience. How sweet would it have been to touch two dolphins in the wild?

I will never know because fear clouded my vision when I should have stayed still and observed the signs – straight, pointed dorsal fins for sharks, slanted, curved dorsal fins for dolphins; vertical tails swishing back and forth for sharks, horizontal tails flipping up and down for dolphins; gills on sharks (because they are fish), no gills on dolphins (because they are mammals). Granted, some of these signs could not easily be seen while the creatures were underwater, but still, a little attention to detail would have been helpful.

So then I thought with regret, How many times in the circumstances of my life have I seen sharks when God sent dolphins? How many blessings have I missed while blind-sided by fear?

I may never know. But, of this I am certain: From now on, I’m looking for dolphins.