Stroker ace

I love to swim.

When I was four, my dad decided it was time to teach me, and threw me between himself and one of his friends. Their grand plan was simple. They tossed me back and forth, and then tossed me a little short and moved out of the way so I had to swim for the stairs...and what seemed like a full mile away. I'm sure it was only five feet, but while I was doggie paddling my little heart out, I could've sworn I they were going to let me drown.

Thankfully, I didn't, and I wanted to get back into the water...just not with them. I wanted to swim without anyone's help. Welcome to independence!

I took lessons got pretty good at holding my breath under water. I still love swimming under water, close to the bottom, skimming it with my fingers, my chin, my belly, my toes, seeing the world around me and from a blurred perspective and hearing with muted ears. My first challenge was to swim the length of the pool without touching the side. That would qualify me to swim in the deep end and ultimately to use the diving board.

Having two older siblings, I knew that I belonged with them, in the line to dive, cannonball or belly flop. There was the high dive and the low dive. By six years old, I was able to use the diving board.

Soon thereafter, my siblings egged me on to go off the high dive. I've always been cool with heights, just not getting down from them. Tricky thing when you're 20' off the ground. Actually, I have no idea how high it was, I just know that it felt like I could've been blown off the narrow diving board by as stiff breeze and they wouldn't let me climb back down the ladder. Once you got up there, there was only one way off. Jump, dive or fall.

I jumped...and I have a slight recollection of my bathing suit going entirely up my backside. I also remember the otherworldliness of the reaching the bottom of the deep end. The penny retrieval competitions on July 4th, the men's competition to capture the greased watermelon, and the endless games of Marco Polo.

These days, I am lucky to get an hour at the pool, nothing like the full days we used to spend in childhood. If we'd get bored swimming, we'd watch people play tennis, or play on the playground, or place pennies and nickels on the train track behind the pool, or just lay out, play cards, or read magazines.

I haven't just hung out at the pool or in the pool for a long time. When I go to the pool, I go to swim laps, to read a book in the sun, to relax.

Thank goodness it's summer and I get to swim whenever I get a chance.