So, what do you think of Michael Phelps? I'm not sure I like him as an individual. That may be because of his ADHD tendencies and aloofness, I'm not sure. But boy can he swim! I wish I could swim like that!
We never went swimming as kids. Neither Mom nor Dad could swim, although we sure did an awful lot of fishing over the years and spent a lot of time in boats on many, many lakes. I'd ask Daddy about it every now and then. He always claimed he could swim if he needed to. I don't know, maybe he had done some of that as a kid. After all, they lived really close to a lake and had to walk around the end of it on their way to school every day. I'm sure he and his siblings stopped and played in the water more than a time or two!
In any case, we didn't learn to swim. One summer, Mom signed us up for lessons at the "Cow Pasture," Lakeview's public swimming hole. I remember being petrified of the lady letting go of me. I could hold my breath just fine. That part wasn't hard. It was just the letting go part I could not accept. So, I didn't learn to swim.
Finally, at the age of 32, I signed up for swim lessons at MCC. By that time, Brandon could swim; I had made sure of that. But, boy was I ever scared that first time in the big pool at the college. I have since learned that it is an Olympic size pool. The size is enough to scare any novice! Well, so I signed up, got a suit, and went to Sidney. And, I got in the pool!
There were lots of us there that day. Lots of grown up people didn't know how to swim. And, bless their hearts, the "teachers" (actually a bunch of young kids!) were very kind and very patient. We all lined up along the wall on the shallow end of the pool. And then the main teacher moved down the line and had us lay back and float. Her name was Shelly; she got to me and said, "Okay, just lay back into the water and pick up your feet. The water will hold you. You'll float." Yeah, right! Like that's gonna happen. I sink like a rock! I was terrified! But you know what, I laid back and floated. Shocked my own senses, I did! I didn't know I could do that! How DID I do that? I don't know, but I did. And that was the first step. After that it was fun. In fact, later on, we were asked to swim underwater. The funny part is that I could not get my body to go under the water. I am just so buoyant! My mind went under, my upper part went under, but my fleshy "buttercups" (as my granddaughter calls that area) stayed firmly floating on the surface! That must have been a sight!!!
So, I guess Michael doesn't have to fear losing his gold medal status to me right away. Even my grandchildren don't have to worry about Grammie beating them in the pool. I haven't been in quite awhile. But you know what? I'm gonna start again. Well, I might not take right off swimming, but plan to start doing some water walking and maybe some water aerobics. I'm guessing that I might be bold enough to try a few breast strokes to see if I can still get my feet off the bottom of the pool, too.
But, I don't think I'll be diving off the board anytime soon. And I'm sure you might still be able to find my "buttercups" floating on the surface every now and then!
Till we meet again,
Leslie Anne
