A return to the pool, a return to myself
Friday, July 2, 2021
This year has been so, so hard on so many levels, and so when my fairy pool-mother sent me a note saying she had opened her backyard pool and would I like to come swimming, I leapt at the chance. It was truly the greatest joy to be able to slip into the water float in the deep end, staring up at the morning sky, feeling weightless for the first time since my last swim (Sept. 29, 2020, and yes, I’ve kept track!).
A cardinal flew overhead, and I told myself it was the same cardinal who kept me company last summer. I clipped into my swim tether and felt the weight of the last year lighten.
Something opened up in me as I began swimming, and I remembered what I’ve always known—that I am most myself when I’m swimming. I started being able to think again. I started figuring out problems in my novel-in-progress that I’ve been stuck on for months. I recognized myself as I got out of the pool and towelled off and I was reminded how necessary swimming is for my mental health (to say nothing of my aging hip, shoulder, back…!)
To a summer of swimming! To a summer of returning to ourselves!
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