Swimming like a...

I have a membership at the Y, and quite often, my workout includes (or is limited to) swimming. My first memories around swimming include filling the "sand"box with water from the hose and playing "rock and roll" in a baby bathtub. Somewhere in there, we graduated to blow-up swimming pools, one of which had two blow-up rings, the other of which had three. I remember being very excited and proud of being able to hold my breath long enough to touch my nose to the bottom of the pool.

Swim lessons at Haworth High School followed. Once the Haworth pool burned my eyes enough that I didn't want to go back. Frequently, I would nearly panic in the diving well (13 feet is pretty deep for a nervous swimmer, though I did just fine as long as I got to swim my laps along the edge of the pool), and then I'd get to go back to the regular pool, where my brother and sister (who went by the names of Ernest and Julio Gallo) were taking their lessons.

Then there were the season pass days -- we sure made those Seashore passes worth it, going for swimming lessons in the morning, open swim in the afternoon, and evening swim after supper. Some days we made all three sessions.

Never have I claimed to be a competitive swimmer. In fact, I swim approximately like a rock. But that doesn't stop me from trying. So today, while the lovely wife did her water aerobics class, I set out to swim laps. I swam 18 laps, which (I think I read correctly) equals 1/4 mile.

There'll be no Iron Man Triathalon for me!!!