Last week my girlfriend flew me out to the tiny island of Guam. It was the best present ever.

I love presents. To be more precise I love good presents. I hate bad presents. I would rather not receive a thoughtless gift. The problem is that I cherish gifts. So if someone gives me something silly or thoughtless I end up stuck with it because it came from someone I love.

I once broke up with a girl because she gave me popcorn as a Christmas present. That's true. I don't really expect nice presents but if you are my girlfriend and you are going to give me something for Christmas - Popcorn - really. She is gone but I still have the popcorn. I think of her every time I see it.

Presents matter. A present is a physical manifestation of our consideration for one another. A great present does not have to be expensive, it doesn't have to cost anything, it just has to be thoughtful. Some token that says... I know who you are and I am thinking of you. Ok. For some of us that means expensive, not for me.

A girlfriend of mine once gave me a sterling silver, jewel encrusted magic wand. That was a great gift, not because it was valuable but because it was thoughtful. A friend of mine couldn't find a magic book she wanted to give me so she borrowed a copy from a private collection and photocopied the entire book, then hand colored all the pictures. Gross copyright infringement but a great present. Brittany knows I love to travel and that I love to dive. So this was the perfect gift. Travel, scuba, sex and cuddles.

A friend of mine just lost his house in a fire. All he escaped with was his lap top. It got us thinking... What would you grab in a fire. What would you take? What would you miss? What matters to you? People have asked me that before but I never really considered it. Not really.

I could live without or replace everything I own. The things that matter most to me are just reminders of people or places. In the end what matters to me are the stories, the adventures and the people I share them with. Presents are just reminders of these things.

Last week my Girlfriend gave me one of the most thoughtful presents I have ever received. A vacation. Some new stories that we shared together. She is working in Guam right now. We spend our nights together via skype but we miss sleeping next to each other. So she flew me out to provide stud service and cuddles.

She took care of everything. For a week I didn't have to make a decision or think about work. All I had to do was service her and relax. My little mow was the most wonderful GF. She took me scuba diving during the day and dancing at night. We went to the falls and on a tour of every club on the island.

My favorite was Club Texas, a filthy cesspool of sleaze and depravity. The dancer on stage was well into her fifties but if you kept your eyes below the C-Section scars she she didn't look a day over forty. Sitting with Brittany at the tip rail watching the show I looked to my left and there was a creepy man with the most bizarre drinking habit I have ever witnessed. On the bar in front of him was a shot of Jack, a glass of beer, a bottle of water, and a carton of milk. He would hit the Jack, chase it with a sip of beer and then slurp milk up through the straw. Three feet to our right an aging buy me drinky girl was putting the finishing touch on a happy ending massage. I swear this was all happening right at the tip rail on the main stage. Not in some dark corner booth.

As we left the club Shemale sing song girls (they don't actually sing) plied their trade in the parking lot out back. Club Texas is my favorite. I actually like the club way better than the state, though I do need a shower after leaving either.

We visited Tanfofo Falls which was beautiful. There is a frightening gondola that takes you to the falls. Near the falls is a cave where a Japanese soldier lived for 28 years after the war. He knew that Guam had been captured by the Americans but did not know the war had ended. He is hailed as a hero in Japan. Imagine living alone in the jungle for 28 years.

Brittany knows that I love Scuba Diving so she overcame her fear of water and got Certified last year. She spent the week before I came out taking refresher courses and finding out about local dive spots then she took me to some of her favorite spots. We went snorkeling at Gab Gab and Diving around the island.

We even went for a night dive. Diving at night is the most beautiful and surreal experience. It's magical. When you turn your flash light off you are in total darkness. Then you wave your hand and the whole world lights up from the phosphorescence. It's like a million tiny fire flies dancing in the water.

We got separated from the rest of the divers. Then we got lost trying to find them. I knew we were in trouble when the ocean floor dropped out from under us. We had been in shallow water. The boat was anchored at seventeen feet. We wanted to go a bit deeper so we found a valley and followed that until we hit about twenty five feet but the current kept pushing us further out. We didn't realize it. The current was very subtle and sneaky. Before we knew it we were sixty feet of water and the floor was falling off fast. Worse the current was pushing us farther and farther out into deeper water. As the water got deeper the current got stronger. I realized we were in trouble so I signaled to Brittany for us to go up to the surface. I had hoped to get my bearings and then drop back down and make a nice leisurely swim back to the boat.

When we surfaced the boat was no where in sight. It was one of the most frightening moments of my life. The current was pushing us hard out to sea and there was just no sign of anyone around us. I was trying to decide what to do when I finally saw a light off in the distance that I thought might be the boat. It had to have been three hundred yards from us. Even when I pointed it out to Brittany she didn't see it. We started to swim towards the light but we were pushing against the current and against the wind. At first it seemed like we were losing against the tide then we pushed harder and after about ten minutes of hard kicking the light was a little bit closer. Ten more minutes and we could make out the shape of the boat in the darkness.

We found out later that they had radioed in to search and rescue warning them that we might be lost and letting them know that if we didn't show up soon they would need to come looking for us.

It took forever but we finally made it to the boat. The current lessened as we got into shallow water and the swimming got easier. My legs were numb by the time I got into the boat. My head was swimming and I think I passed out for a moment. I think the only thing that kept me conscious was thinking about Britt. I knew she would flip if I keeled over so I just took slow deep breaths and tried to keep the gray from closing in on me.

I have had some close calls in my life. But Scuba is by far the most dangerous thing that I do. It is so peaceful so simple but everything goes from lovely to deadly in just a moment and doing what seems most natural is the thing that will kill you quickest. Very treacherous.

The day before our dive a Japanese girl had passed out at sixty feet. She drifted down to a hundred and seventy feet. Her buddy swam down after her. At that depth you can't see more than a few feet. It's all dark but he found her and inflated her vest. She popped up to the surface but that ride up nearly killed her. She spent the next week in a decompression chamber. It's so simple, so peaceful, that it's easy to forget how dangerous it is and that is when things go horribly wrong.

Our time together was magical. I wouldn't trade that for anything. We spent the next two days and nights together in relative calm, just cuddling, and remembering each other. It will be months before I hold her again.