Swimming!!

Greetings and salutations!

Something a little less heavy as a subject matter, and a bit more buoyant! Yes, pun intended.

I love the water, and I love to swim. Some of my fondest memories concern the water.

When I was very, very small, I can remember my dad taking us to the local pool (which happened to be in the apartment complex we lived in). We were given water wings, and taught how to swim. My sister and I, taught by my dad.

I took to water. Fast. I loved swimming, and wanted to swim as much as I could, whenever I could. When we visited Barbados, my dad used to swim so far out into the ocean. And he always came back. That’s where I get my love of the water and the ocean. From watching him swim out and come back in.

I know some people don’t like to swim, or have to have their feet touch the bottom of the ocean to feel safe and comforted. Not me. For me, if my feet can touch the ocean floor, and I can see it because the sunlight can reach that far? I haven’t gone out far enough.

And that’s the thing about life. I think far too many people play it safe, stick close to shore, need the reassurance of support. I don’t think life is supposed to be like that! I think you have to wander away from shore, and do things that are a bit risky and put yourself out there so that you might fail, or even drown. It’s a fine balancing act, to be sure. But staying safely on shore, or hugging the shoreline isn’t a way to live either.

I am grateful that I know how to swim. I’ve got some mobility issues, and while on land I’m positively ungainly, in the water, I’m somewhat graceful, and powerful. I think as an adult that’s what I like about swimming most of all. I can experience a movement and grace that I’d never be able to mimic otherwise.

Swimming is something that one can do alone. Swimming into the ocean, fighting the waves and currents, testing yourself, looking down, and seeing light turn into an abyss, looking to the endless horizon, and then back to shore for me is exhilarating. I love it. It gives me time to think and relax, and get me back to nature. Even swimming in a pool, one can still be alone enough to think.

I enjoy my time in the water, and hope to be swimming for a long time. As for dad? He’s in his mid-seventies and he still swims. Like father, like son, I hope.

That’s all for now.