Swimming Lessons

As the "Summer ABC's" support, my primary swimming location has been the creek or the river where along with your bathing suit required equipment are a trusting pair of creek shoes. However, the older I am, I have grown to appreciate the local public pool. With the heat of this summer, I have spent a lot of time at the local Dormont Pool; this is a serious public pool that's been around a long time. The pool is HUGE, it's longer than a football field and about 40 yards across; there's a slide, a net for pool volleyball, a diving board, and all kinds of rafts and floatables are allowed!

Spending many hours at the pool I have learned certain lessons. To begin, what is it about we Americans and space? We don't like to be crowded, we need our "elbow room" and this holds even more true in the pool. Part of the charm of the Dormont facility is how big it is --- if you stay in the deeper part of the pool, and that is a substantial piece, you have a lot of room to swim and splash, to dive and diva float. I'm one who likes to have room and space when I swim. I have never understood the allure of going to a public pool packed with people and making the swim akin to amoebas in a petri dish.

Before any little kid ventures to swim in the 6 - 9 feet of water, she or he must take and pass their "deep water test." Wouldn't it be nice if in life we each had the opportunity to pass a "deep water test" before we found ourselves in deep and challenging waters that are a part of living? We would be given a ribbon or a bracelet to wear notifying all that we had passed the test and could handle ourselves in the deep water. The more I think about it, many of us, are walking around with invisible ribbons and bracelets having been through the deep waters of life and some of us still treading to keep ourselves afloat.

sj;