just keep swiming, just keep swiming

I love to swim.

I transferred my gym membership to the one closer to my new place and this one has a pool. I was very excited about this because swimming is probably my favorite form of exercise. I love the way the water feels as I glide through it, the way my hands slice through it as I do the freestyle and the way I feel kind of like a frog when I do the breast stroke. I love how the only things I hear when my head is under water are the bubbles that leave my mouth as I exhale and the gurgle my arms and legs make as I move through the water. I even like the way my skin still smells of chlorine long after I have taken a shower.

When I was younger, around 4 or 5 and living in NC, I took swimming lessons at the Y. I ended up getting pneumonia from swallowing too much water, some of it getting into my lungs. I took lessons again when I was a little older, I think 8 or 9 living in CO. I remember walking the few blocks back to my house, alone, feeling like such a grown up. One time it started to pour down rain and I started to run although it didn't really matter if I got wet. When I was in high school in VA, I would hear about other school's swim teams and long to be on one; yet, my town, let alone my school, did not have a pool. It wasn't until long after I graduated that a Y was built and a swim team formed.

I'm not the most accomplished swimmer. I will never win any awards or medals for speed or endurance. I could use some pointers for improving my strokes. I'd like to learn the butterfly. But I am at peace when I swim, my only thoughts focusing on breathing and form. I wish I could find that peace in life.