Learning to Swim

I woke up this morning and prayed: Dear Lord,Thank you for goggles. Amen.I would have never dreamed that at thirty-six I would be learning to swim. It is a secret of mine that I started to tell people and they have been laughing, so I am just going to turn it back in and keep it between God and me. I have always hated swimming. Even when it is hot and the only way to stand the outdoor scorching summer sun is to swim, even then, I would typically just rather not. I don't really care for air conditioning either – but if I get into that I will sound like a complainer, so I will stop right there with hating to swim.I've been thinking back at being seven, since my girls are now. And this is what I remember of my summers: never being able to see. And I realized it wasn't so much the swimming that I hated, it was what happens when I swim. At about seven years old I suddenly needed glasses. It is weird to me to think that one day I came home with glasses because I swear they were instantly coke bottle thick and needed for everything. I never had the glasses just for reading or the light pair that a child would even need a glasses case to carry. Since first on my nose, I never remember being able to see without them. And so, here is the answer to my distaste for the pool: water and glasses don't mix. The glasses get set on a pool side table or on a towel edge, and from that point on as a child, I dreaded the time in the pool. My list of worries:1.What if someone steps on my glasses and breaks them? There is no safe place near a pool edge.2.Where are my friends? At a public pool I could literally not tell the difference between the grandma floating and my friend's raft. Marco Polo was the only game I could handle because it didn't matter if I tried to peak – I still couldn't see.3.Where are the cute boys? As I grew up, that became the only reason to really go to the pool anyway and I couldn't even get a good flirt in! No googly eyes? What was the point of my cute bikini?!4.What if I can't find my towel when I get out of the pool? What if I walk over to the wrong group of friends?5.The glasses fog up at an indoor pool. I hate that.Okay, you get the picture. It is quite simply, miserable. So as I grew up, I had an aversion to swimming. If you are as blind as me – which is, can't-see-the-alarm-clock-blind – then you understand my distress. So I did the lessons, and I managed the pool parties as best I could, but I grew up hating swimming.In high school, I got contacts. You might think this event would change my abhorrencee for water sports, but au contraire. I remember going to swim for the first time with my “new eyes” and being so excited inside-ready to enjoy the pool with the invention of vision! On the edge it was immensely better. I no longer worried about having my glasses broken and I was free to scope out the boys. I could even wear sun glasses! Glory be! But jumping in, my fears and frustrations returned. Any sort of splash or attempt to swim stung my eyes and made me feel like my contacts were going to fall into the pool. So, now I could handle the shore and even wade a bit, but the real fun and adventure splashing out in front of me still did not seem inviting. I resigned to be a dog paddler, keeping my head up and looking nonsporty. Fast forward twenty years. Here I am today, watching my daughters learn to swim. And they have goggles. I chuckle every time they put them on – their little bug eyes popping out. But they dive down deep and they enjoy the water like mermaids. And I sit on the edge, with my contacts in, and watch them splash and play for hours. I get to thinking: Goggles. Me. The thought cracks me up because I can just imagine my eyes popping out of my head like theirs. Then I realize, Hey, why not? I am already horrified to be wearing this swimming suit. My days of impressing the boys are long gone. So I grab an extra pair of goggles, and I jump in. Low and behold, I can see the bottom of the pool! I can see my daughters as they play and I can splash back! I do a lap across the pool and apply every thing I have heard their swim instructors tell them – and what do you know? I can swim! I never sunk before, like I said I was a great dog paddler. I once even treaded water for 20 minutes in a bet with my dad which was supposed to get me a horse in the end (never did). But swimming! Now this was new to me. It felt amazing to glide through the water and to turn my head and breath. I did the "Bubble Bubble Bubble Breathe" stroke in my head and the freestyle was exactly that – freeing!I climbed out of the pool like I had discovered a secret. Now, I know it's too late to be a Missy Franklin – but I just may try a triathlon someday. I just have to laugh because, like I said, I never thought I would be learning to swim at thirty-six. And it gets my thinking...what else did I hate as a child? What did I hold myself back from for some silly reason? I suddenly am realizing that my list of things I want to do with my life can be bigger and bigger. It is like I have just heard a graduation speech with inspiration and a “Go forth!” message. Maybe skiing, mountain biking, orienteering, even water slides! My mind is reeling at the possibilities. For the first time in a long time, I feel like trying new things instead of perfecting the old. And I realize, I am starting to like being old because now I can wear goggles and just jump in without a worry in the world about what that Barbie on the beach towel is thinking of me. And I am thankful. Thankful for goggles and thankful for growing old. Amen.